The BEACON Act directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish two grant programs focused on researching and developing treatments for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in veterans. The first program awards grants up to $5 million per year to nonprofits, academic institutions, and health care providers to test new neurorehabilitation approaches, with emphasis on non-drug therapies that address mental health, suicide prevention, and depression. The second program funds independent research through partnerships with entities similar to the VA's National Center for PTSD, awarding four grants of up to $625,000 annually for exploratory projects and five grants of up to $1.5 million for larger collaborative studies. The legislation authorizes $30 million for the first program and $10 million annually for the second program across fiscal years 2026–2028, with both programs set to expire three years after enactment. The VA must submit annual progress reports to Congress and coordinate these efforts with existing suicide prevention initiatives to create comprehensive, innovative mTBI care pathways outside traditional VA procedures.
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