Unlocking Clues to TBI Treatments

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological health (PH) conditions have devastating impact on quality of life, family relations, and military readiness.

More than 300,000 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with these "invisible wounds," according to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC). The consequences to service members and families are severe, and the intense search for innovative treatments and better, enduring results has spread across military and civilian sectors.

Booz Allen is dedicated to creating brain health innovations for service members and veterans who have experienced TBI and PH conditions. With deep roots in the field of TBI care, research, and education, Booz Allen serves as an essential partner to clients like Department of Defense (DoD) Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office, the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), the Vision Center of Excellence (VCE), and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE).

In 2010, the DoD established the internationally recognized NICoE to find new approaches to treating TBI. Since being awarded the contract to support NICoE, Booz Allen brought not only their traditional consulting expertise but also advanced analytics capabilities to establish the infrastructure that helped the Center employ new approaches to clinical treatment and research by using interdisciplinary teams and integrative medicine in a collaborative effort with patients, families, and referring providers. We've served NICoE across every department in the organization, including strategic innovation and communication, and a full service Program Management Office (PMO) that supports clinical care, research, administrative functions, education, and human capital.

Since its inception, the Booz Allen NICoE team has:

• Supported the creation of the Military Health System (MHS)'s TBI Pathway of Care which aligned NICoE to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and solidified NICoE's mission as primarily clinical while still serving as a site for translational research for TBI and associated psychological health conditions
  
• Developed a white paper that established attributes and infrastructure requirements to position NICoE as a leading neurotrauma institute within the MHS
  
• Partnered with NICoE at each step of its maturation toward providing unmatched care to patients and families affected by some of the most challenging cases of TBI
  
• Facilitated the strategy for NICoE to expand its reach through Intrepid Spirit centers at nine military bases across the country.
  

"One of the most exciting things is how Booz Allen's innovative data analytics capabilities are transforming the diagnosis and treatment of TBI," says Senior Associate Sako Maki Thompson, who helps lead the firm's Behavioral Health strategy with its MHS clients. Anticipating NICoE's needs, the team created an algorithm to analyze the presentation, symptoms, and treatment outcomes for the TBI patients treated at NICoE since it opened. This work resulted in identifying four TBI sub-types allowing for improved treatment strategies.

"Eventually researchers and clinicians will be able to utilize these sub-categories to directly tie outcome measures to treatment strategies, which will allow providers to identify the treatments that have the best outcomes for certain injuries," says Staff Technologist Peter Hoover, who provides support to the NICoE Informatics team. "This information in the hands of practitioners will help patients start on the treatments that have the best track record for treating their type of injuries and facilitate a direct, positive outcome on patient recovery," continues Aaron Hauptman, a staff scientist who supported the creation of the algorithm.