The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act was signed into law by President Biden in August 2022. It sets out to significantly expand benefits to Veterans who have been exposed to toxins during their military service, which includes burn pits, Agent Orange, and radioactive materials. The law also devotes new resources and personnel to bolster the rural health care workforce, identifies new areas of research for toxic exposures, and creates Toxic Exposure Screenings, which are now utilized in assessing Veterans’ health histories as part of the PACT Act claims process.
The Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center (PEPReC) published a policy brief outlining the PACT Act, including its implications for the Veteran community, progress in the law’s first year of implementation, and any challenges thus far. Read the full brief here.
PEPReC, within the Veterans Health Administration and funded in large part by the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI), is a team of health economists, health services and public health researchers, statistical programmers, and policy analysts who engage policymakers to improve Veterans’ lives through evidence-driven innovations using advanced quantitative methods.
