Suicide Prevention Assistance Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4353 To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a grant program to provide self-harm and suicide prevention services in primary care offices, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 Mr. DESAULNIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a grant program to provide self-harm and suicide prevention services in primary care offices, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Suicide Prevention As- 4 sistance Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4353 IH SEC. 2. GRANTS TO PROVIDE SELF-HARM AND SUICIDE 1 PREVENTION SERVICES. 2 Part B of title V of the Public Health Service Act 3 (42 U.S.C. 290aa et seq.) is amended by adding at the 4 end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 520N. GRANTS TO PROVIDE SELF-HARM AND SUICIDE 6 PREVENTION SERVICES. 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 8 Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary 9 for Mental Health and Substance Use (referred to in this 10 section as the ‘Secretary’), shall award grants to primary 11 care offices to provide self-harm and suicide prevention 12 services. 13 ‘‘(b) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—A primary care office 14 awarded a grant under subsection (a) shall use amounts 15 under the grant to carry out the following: 16 ‘‘(1) The primary care office shall hire one or 17 more clinical social workers to carry out the activi- 18 ties described in paragraphs (2) through (4). 19 ‘‘(2) A primary care physician at the primary 20 care office shall screen patients for self-harm and 21 suicide in accordance with the standards of practice 22 described in subsection (f)(1) and shall, as appro- 23 priate, notify a clinical social worker hired under 24 paragraph (1) of screenings that yield an indicator 25 of self-harm or suicide. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4353 IH ‘‘(3) A clinical social worker hired under para- 1 graph (1) shall provide patients short-term self-harm 2 and suicide prevention services in accordance with 3 the results of the screenings described in paragraph 4 (2). 5 ‘‘(4) A clinical social worker hired under para- 6 graph (1) shall, as appropriate, refer patients to a 7 health care facility for purposes of receiving long- 8 term self-harm and suicide prevention services. 9 ‘‘(c) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF GRANTS.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not 11 award more than 10 grants under subsection (a). 12 ‘‘(2) WITH RESPECT TO A PRIMARY CARE OF- 13 FICE.—A primary care office may not be awarded 14 more than 1 grant under subsection (a). 15 ‘‘(3) WITH RESPECT TO A STATE.—Not more 16 than 1 primary care office in any State may be 17 awarded a grant under subsection (a). 18 ‘‘(d) GRANT TERMS.—A grant awarded under sub- 19 section (a)— 20 ‘‘(1) may not exceed $500,000; 21 ‘‘(2) shall be for a period of 2 years; and 22 ‘‘(3) may be renewed subject to the require- 23 ments of this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4353 IH ‘‘(e) APPLICATIONS.—A primary care office seeking 1 a grant under subsection (a) shall submit an application 2 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accom- 3 panied by such information as the Secretary may require. 4 ‘‘(f) STANDARDS OF PRACTICE.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 6 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 7 Secretary shall develop standards of practice for 8 screening patients for self-harm and suicide for pur- 9 poses of carrying out subsection (b)(2). 10 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall de- 11 velop the standards of practice described in para- 12 graph (1) in consultation with stakeholder groups 13 with expertise in self-harm and suicide prevention, 14 including public, private, and non-profit entities. 15 ‘‘(g) REPORTING.— 16 ‘‘(1) REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A primary care office 18 awarded a grant under subsection (a) shall, at 19 least quarterly for the duration of the grant, 20 submit to the Secretary a report evaluating the 21 activities supported by the grant. 22 ‘‘(B) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The 23 report required under subparagraph (A) shall 24 include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4353 IH ‘‘(i) the number of patients receiv- 1 ing— 2 ‘‘(I) screenings carried out at the 3 primary care office; 4 ‘‘(II) short-term self-harm and 5 suicide prevention services at the pri- 6 mary care office; and 7 ‘‘(III) referrals to health care fa- 8 cilities for the purposes of receiving 9 long-term self-harm and suicide pre- 10 vention; 11 ‘‘(ii) information on the adherence of 12 the primary care office to the standards of 13 practice described in subsection (f)(1); and 14 ‘‘(iii) other information as the Sec- 15 retary determines appropriate to evaluate 16 the use of grant funds. 17 ‘‘(2) REPORTS TO CONGRESS AND IN THE DE- 18 PARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.— 19 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact- 20 ment of this section, and biennially thereafter, the 21 Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congres- 22 sional committees and the subcomponents of the De- 23 partment of Health and Human Services described 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4353 IH in paragraph (3) a report on the grant program 1 under this section, including— 2 ‘‘(A) a summary of reports received by the 3 Secretary under paragraph (1); and 4 ‘‘(B) an evaluation of the program by the 5 Secretary. 6 ‘‘(3) REPORTING IN THE DEPARTMENT OF 7 HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.—The subcompo- 8 nents of the Department of Health and Human 9 Services described in paragraph (2) are the Centers 10 for Disease Control and Prevention and the National 11 Institute of Mental Health. 12 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 14 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com- 15 mittees’ means— 16 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 17 merce of the House of Representatives; and 18 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Health, Education, 19 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 20 ‘‘(2) PRIMARY CARE OFFICE.—The term ‘pri- 21 mary care office’ means a health care facility that 22 provides primary care services. 23 ‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means— 24 ‘‘(A) a State; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:59 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4353 IH ‘‘(B) the District of Columbia; 1 ‘‘(C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; or 2 ‘‘(D) any other territory or possession of 3 the United States.’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4353.IH H4353 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS