The Suicide Prevention Act proposes two intertwined programs aimed at preventing self-harm and suicide while strengthening surveillance and analysis to guide prevention efforts. First, it would create a syndromic surveillance program (317W) that awards grants to state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments to expand real-time tracking of self-harm and suicidality. Data would be shared with the CDC, disaggregated into specific categories, and used to inform rapid responses to suicide clusters, prevention programming, and research. Priority for funding would go to areas with higher nonfatal self-harm rates, tribal communities with higher rates, or places with high emergency department coverage, with a push to geographic distribution and rural needs. The program would run for at least four years per grantee, include technical assistance, and require data sharing through established federal surveillance platforms, while protecting privacy under applicable laws. About $30 million per year would be authorized for 2026-2030. Second, the act would create a grant program to fund self-harm and suicide prevention services in hospital emergency departments. EDs receiving grants would implement programs to prevent suicide attempts after discharge, including patient screening for self-harm, short-term prevention services, and referrals for long-term care. Grants could be used to hire and train staff and would run for three years (renewable). The Secretary would set standards for screening within 180 days, and hospitals would report quarterly on screenings, services provided, and referrals. The program would also be evaluated by the Secretary and reported to Congress every two years. The same $30 million per year authorization would support this component through 2030.
Key Points
- 1Syndromic surveillance expansion: Grants to public health departments to broaden real-time monitoring of self-harm and suicidality, with data shared with the CDC to guide response, prevention, and research.
- 2Data disaggregation: Collected data would be broken out into nonfatal self-harm (any intent), suicidal ideation, self-harm with and without evident intent, and cases where intent is unclear.
- 3Priority and geography: Grants prioritized for areas with above-national rates of nonfatal self-harm, tribal communities with higher rates, and states/areas with high ED visitation coverage; emphasis on rural needs and equitable geographic distribution.
- 4Privacy safeguards: Data sharing and surveillance must comply with privacy laws; the bill explicitly states that privacy protections are not overridden and that data handling respects applicable laws.
- 5ED prevention grants: Hospitals’ emergency departments would receive funds to screen patients, deliver short-term prevention services, and refer patients to long-term care; staff could be hired or trained with grant funds.
- 6Standards and reporting: The Secretary must develop screening standards within six months; EDs submit quarterly progress reports; Congress receives biennial program evaluations starting two years after enactment.
- 7Funding: Each component is authorized to receive $30 million per fiscal year from 2026 through 2030.