GAO Says Brain Health Monitoring Is Short on Capacity. Here Is One Way to Add It.

Reviewed by Marc Ó Gríofa, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Neurova Labs

In August, the Government Accountability Office released GAO-26-107829, a review of how the Pentagon manages the potential brain health effects of weapons blast exposure. Stars and Stripes and Army Times covered the findings.

The report shows real progress and a real gap. Nearly 200,000 service members completed baseline cognitive testing in fiscal year 2025. Even so, by October 2025 only about 86 percent of active-duty troops in high-risk roles had received it. GAO points to funding and personnel constraints as the main obstacles to brain health monitoring, including a shortage of the industrial hygienists who track when and where troops are exposed to blast from weapons such as .50-caliber rifles, breaching charges, and mortars.

What is slowing brain health monitoring for troops?

Funding and personnel constraints are slowing brain health monitoring, according to GAO, and people are the scarcest resource in military medicine. We appreciate how clearly GAO names the problem. The requirements are on paper. Meeting them takes people.

That shortage reaches everything downstream of a baseline test. When a unit identifies a service member who could use support with focus, stress, or cognitive load, the next step often runs through a specialty clinic with a long line. A 2025 Department report to Congress describes a waitlist of roughly 640 service members for its intensive outpatient pathway for complex brain injury, with waits beyond 200 days at some sites.

How can a unit add capacity without adding headcount?

A unit can add capacity with people it already has by running a complete program whose facilitator training and certification are included and delivered remotely. Neurova Labs built Neurova Academy for exactly this kind of constraint. It ships as a complete program, with software access, equipment, and facilitator certification under a single agreement.

• Facilitator training and certification are included and delivered remotely, so a unit can stand up the program with people it already has.

• A full program is five daily sessions of about thirty minutes, roughly two and a half hours of participant time.

• One unit of equipment supports up to 250 completed programs a year at full use.

• Sessions are done standing in about a square meter of space, so there is no build-out.

• The program runs offline, requires no clinical infrastructure, and collects no personally identifiable information in normal use.

Throughput matters when people are the constraint. Three systems at full use cover 750 completed programs a year, roughly the size of an Army battalion. People finish, too. In our 100-person community pilot with the YMCA of Orange County, 84 percent completed the full 30-day assessment and 96 percent would recommend the program. More than 500 programs have been delivered to date.

A program like this sits upstream of the referral queue. It gives a commander a repeatable, low-burden way to support cognitive and emotional readiness on the unit's own schedule while the medical system does its work.

Does the same capacity problem show up in civilian life?

Yes. Community organizations, clinics, employers, and first responder agencies all face more demand for brain health support than their staff can meet. That is why Neurova Academy runs today with the Ukrainian military in an active conflict environment, Cleveland Police in the United Kingdom, veteran-friendly clinics in Utah and Idaho, Nilson Homes, which provides access for all of its employees, and Brain+, the well-being program we built with the YMCA of Orange County.

Our vision is brain training for everyone with a brain, delivered wherever people already gather, train, and serve. GAO has shown where the military system is stretched. We are ready to help units add capacity now.

To bring Neurova Academy to your unit, clinic, or community, visit neurovalabs.com.

About Neurova Labs

Neurova Labs is a veteran-led neurotechnology company based in Salt Lake City. Its program, Neurova Academy, is a facilitator-led neuro-immersive brain training program designed to support focus, stress regulation, and mental endurance, with no clinical infrastructure required. Programs can add an optional 22-marker panel measuring RNA gene expression from whole blood, processed by iXpressGenes, a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited laboratory. Neurova Labs works with military units, first responder agencies, clinics, and community organizations. Learn more at neurovalabs.com.

Neurova Academy is a general wellness and cognitive training program. It is not a medical device and is not offered to diagnose, treat, cure, or mitigate any disease or condition, including concussion, traumatic brain injury, or CTE. References to news reporting, government publications, and published research are for commentary only and do not imply endorsement of Neurova Labs by any federal entity or research institution.