Veteran Suicide Prevention Act

VA review of veteran suicides

If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to complete a review within 18 months of enactment. The review would cover all "covered veterans" who died by suicide during the five years before enactment. "Covered veteran" means a veteran who received VA hospital care or medical services during the five-year period before the veteran's death. The review would include 11 elements: total deaths and age, gender, and race summaries; a full list of medications found and prescribed (including drugs with boxed "black box" warnings, off-label uses, psychotropic drugs, or warnings mentioning suicidal ideation); medical diagnoses that led to those prescriptions; counts of instances with multiple VA-prescribed medications and the percentage who were not taking any VA-prescribed medication; the percentage with combat experience or trauma (including military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, and PTSD); identification of VA facilities with markedly high prescription and suicide rates; descriptions of VA prescribing policies; any patterns the Secretary finds; and recommendations for further action. Not later than 30 days after finishing the review, the Secretary would submit the report to Congress and make it publicly available. The bill defines a "black box warning" as a boxed prescribing warning for drugs with serious risks.