Veteran Suicide Prevention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5570 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a review of the deaths of certain veterans who died by suicide, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2020 Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. HECK, Mr. RUSH, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. PETERS, Mr. HIMES, Mr. KIL- MER, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. OLSON, Mr. KATKO, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. AMODEI, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. KEATING, Ms. STEFANIK, and Mr. COLE) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a review of the deaths of certain veterans who died by suicide, 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 ‘‘Veteran Suicide Pre- 4 vention Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5570.IH H5570 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5570 IH SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS REVIEW OF 1 CERTAIN VETERANS’ DEATHS BY SUICIDE. 2 (a) REVIEW REQUIRED.—Not later than 18 months 3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 4 of Veterans Affairs shall complete a review of the deaths 5 of all covered veterans who died by suicide during the five- 6 year period preceding the date of the enactment of this 7 Act. Such review shall include— 8 (1) the total number of veterans who died by 9 suicide during the five-year period preceding the 10 date of the enactment of this Act; 11 (2) a summary of such veterans that includes 12 the age, gender, and race of such veterans; 13 (3) a comprehensive list of the medications pre- 14 scribed to, and found in the systems of, such vet- 15 erans at the time of their deaths, specifically listing 16 any medications that carried a black box warning, 17 were off-label, psychotropic, or carried warnings that 18 included suicidal ideation; 19 (4) a summary of medical diagnoses by Depart- 20 ment of Veterans Affairs physicians which led to the 21 prescribing of the medications referred to in para- 22 graph (3); 23 (5) the number of instances in which the vet- 24 eran who died by suicide was concurrently on mul- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5570.IH H5570 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5570 IH tiple medications prescribed by Department of Vet- 1 erans Affairs physicians; 2 (6) the percentage of veterans who died by sui- 3 cide who were not taking any medication prescribed 4 by a Department of Veterans Affairs physician; 5 (7) the percentage of veterans referred to in 6 paragraph (1) with combat experience or trauma 7 (including, but not limited to military sexual trauma, 8 traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress); 9 (8) Veteran Health Administration facilities 10 with markedly high prescription and suicide rates of 11 patients being treated at those facilities; 12 (9) a description of Department of Veterans Af- 13 fairs policies governing the prescribing of medica- 14 tions referred to in paragraph (3); 15 (10) any patterns apparent to the Secretary 16 based on the review; and 17 (11) recommendations for further action that 18 would improve the safety and well-being of veterans. 19 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 30 days 20 after the completion of the review required under sub- 21 section (a), the Secretary shall— 22 (1) submit to Congress a report on the results 23 of the review; and 24 (2) make such report publicly available. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5570.IH H5570 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5570 IH (c) COVERED VETERAN.—In this section: 1 (1) The term ‘‘covered veteran’’ means any vet- 2 eran who received hospital care or medical services 3 furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs 4 during the five-year period preceding the death of 5 the veteran. 6 (2) The term ‘‘black box warning’’ means a 7 warning displayed within a box in the prescribing in- 8 formation for drugs that have special problems, par- 9 ticularly ones that may lead to death or serious in- 10 jury. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5570.IH H5570 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS