What Works for Preventing Veteran Suicide Act
What Works for Preventing Veteran Suicide Act would amend title 38 U.S.C. to require the Department of Veterans Affairs, through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), to establish standard practices for any grant or pilot program related to suicide prevention or mental health. The act mandates the VA to issue regulations that set clear, measurable objectives; require a formal plan for data collection, evaluation, and analysis; outline criteria for decisions on expanding or making programs permanent; ensure communication with relevant entities during development and throughout the program; and conduct a final evaluation to validate lessons and assess whether the program could be generalized to other settings. It also requires sharing the results and best practices identified. Regulations must be issued within 180 days of enactment, and these standard practices would apply to grant or pilot programs regardless of when they were established.
Key Points
- 1Establishes standard practices for VHA-administered grants or pilots focused on suicide prevention or mental health, with regulations to guide implementation.
- 2Requires a formal plan to determine what information to evaluate, how to collect it (sources, methods, timing, frequency), and how to analyze it to assess implementation, performance, and lessons learned.
- 3Mandates clear, measurable objectives and criteria to decide whether a program should be expanded, extended, or made permanent.
- 4Requires proactive communication with relevant entities during development, at least 30 days before a program starts, and throughout the program’s duration.
- 5Calls for a conclusive evaluation at the end of the program to validate lessons and assess whether findings can be generalized, plus sharing results and best practices with relevant entities.