# Wounded Warrior Workforce Enhancement Act

This bill is designed to help train more specialists in orthotics and prosthetics—the field that creates and fits artificial limbs and mobility devices—with a special focus on serving veterans who have lost limbs or have mobility challenges. The government would provide grants to colleges and universities to either start new master's degree programs in this field or expand existing ones.

The bill sets up two main programs. First, it would distribute between $1 million and $1.5 million grants to multiple schools that want to build or expand their orthotics and prosthetics programs. Schools could use this money to hire and train faculty, buy equipment, renovate buildings, offer scholarships to students (especially veterans), or conduct research. Schools that partner with VA hospitals or military medical facilities would get priority for these grants. Second, the bill would award a single $5 million grant to one top-tier institution to create a "Center of Excellence" focused on researching the best ways to train orthotics and prosthetics professionals and studying what skills these specialists actually need.

For veterans specifically, this bill creates real advantages. Schools receiving grants must give preference to veterans when admitting students to these programs and when awarding financial aid. This means a veteran with limb loss or mobility issues would have a better chance of getting into these programs and receiving financial support. The practical effect is that more trained professionals would be available to help veterans get fitted with prosthetics and orthotics, and more of those professionals would understand veterans' specific needs because they'd be trained partly at VA facilities.

The bill authorizes $15 million in funding for fiscal year 2023 to support these grants, with money available through 2025. Schools would have three years to use grant money for the regular programs and five years for the Center of Excellence.

Wounded Warrior Workforce Enhancement Act

Cartwright, Matt

Wounded Warrior Workforce Enhancement Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to award grants to eligible institutions to (1) establish a master's degree program in orthotics and prosthetics, or (2) expand upon an existing master's degree program in such area. The VA shall give grant priority to institutions that have entered into a partnership with a medical center administered by the VA or a facility administered by the Department of Defense. An eligible institution is an educational institution that is either accredited by the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education or that demonstrates an ability to meet such accreditation requirements if it receives a grant. The bill also requires the VA to award a grant to an institution with orthotic and prosthetic research and education experience to (1) establish the Center of Excellence in Orthotic and Prosthetic Education; and (2) improve orthotic and prosthetic outcomes for veterans, members of the Armed Forces, and civilians by conducting orthotic and prosthetic research.