WASHINGTON — Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, a subcommittee chairman on the House Armed Services Committee, said the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act would boost the quality of care at military care facilities around the country.

Among other things, it would create a pilot program to more efficiently transfer medical records from the Defense Department to the Veterans Affairs Department. And it calls for a hot line for complaints about medical care living quarters.

"It deals directly with medical care, quality of life and the necessary administrative process for taking care of these combat-wounded service members and outpatients," Abercrombie said.

The bill, which the House could consider as soon as this week, also would set up a pilot program, advocated by Abercrombie, that would require the Pentagon to study how to help caregivers for wounded soldiers, who are usually family members.

Abercrombie said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced thousands of severely injured service members, many of whom would have died in previous wars when medical care was less advanced.

"You have multiple amputees, severe head trauma — all kinds of post-wounding results — that require extraordinary care, in many instances for a lifetime, but certainly for an extended rehabilitation phase," he said.

These caregivers, who often come to military hospitals for an extended time, find themselves away from their jobs for long periods and facing a daunting task sometimes just to find places to live and eat while caring for their loved ones, Abercrombie said.

Abercrombie's program calls for the military to conduct a six-month study of the job and health insurance problems faced by caregivers as well as their living situations.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.