Veterans’ Sentinel Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8449 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to collect and analyze data regarding suicides and attempted suicides by veterans on the property of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 Mr. CROW (for himself, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Ms. OMAR, and Mr. CRIST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to collect and analyze data regarding suicides and attempted suicides by veterans on the prop- erty of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Veterans’ Sentinel 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8449 IH SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ON COLLECTING AND ANALYZING 1 DATA REGARDING CERTAIN VETERAN SUI- 2 CIDES. 3 (a) PILOT PROGRAM.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 6 of Veterans Affairs shall establish in the Office of 7 Mental Health and Suicide Prevention a pilot pro- 8 gram under which the Secretary establishes a work- 9 ing group in the Office to collect and analyze data 10 regarding on-campus suicides and on-campus at- 11 tempted suicides. 12 (2) WORKING GROUP.— 13 (A) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the 14 working group established under paragraph (1) 15 shall be selected from among staff representing 16 each of the following: 17 (i) The Office of Mental Health and 18 Suicide Prevention. 19 (ii) The Veterans Health Administra- 20 tion. 21 (iii) The Veterans Benefits Adminis- 22 tration. 23 (iv) The National Cemeteries Admin- 24 istration. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8449 IH (v) The Office of Operations, Secu- 1 rity, and Preparedness of the Department. 2 (vi) The National Patient Safety Cen- 3 ters of the Department. 4 (vii) Any other element of the Depart- 5 ment as the Secretary determines appro- 6 priate. 7 (B) REPORTING.—The working group shall 8 report directly to the Executive Director of the 9 Office of Mental Health and Suicide Preven- 10 tion. 11 (3) METHODOLOGY.—In collecting and ana- 12 lyzing the information under paragraph (1), the 13 working group shall— 14 (A) use root cause analysis to review all 15 on-campus suicides and on-campus attempted 16 suicides; 17 (B) with respect to on-campus suicides— 18 (i) conduct Behavioral Health Au- 19 topsy Program assessments, including fam- 20 ily interviews; and 21 (ii) document reasons for any defi- 22 ciencies in the data collected; and 23 (C) not less frequently than every 90 days, 24 communicate with the medical centers and field 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8449 IH offices of the Department in order to coordinate 1 the collection and review actions of the working 2 group with such actions carried out by the med- 3 ical centers and field offices. 4 (4) DATA COLLECTION INTAKE IMPROVE- 5 MENTS.—The working group shall consider, and 6 may implement for purposes of the pilot program 7 under paragraph (1), improvements to the process 8 by which the Secretary collects data on on-campus 9 suicides and on-campus attempted suicides to unify 10 the disparate sources of such data, including with 11 respect to— 12 (A) modifying incident reports and other 13 methods to collect data, including both suicide 14 and attempted suicide report fields; 15 (B) developing and ensuring that each 16 data source, including the Behavioral Health 17 Autopsy Program assessment, relating to on- 18 campus suicides and on-campus attempted sui- 19 cides include a specified section for such on- 20 campus incidents; and 21 (C) developing an associated management 22 system to consolidate all relevant data for on- 23 campus suicides and on-campus attempted sui- 24 cides, including such data from Behavioral 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8449 IH Health Autopsy Program assessments, health 1 records of the Department, root cause analyses, 2 incident reports, and other sources of data. 3 (5) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than one year after 4 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 5 thereafter during the life of the pilot program under 6 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide to the 7 Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 8 Representatives and the Senate a briefing on the 9 progress and findings of the working group estab- 10 lished under such paragraph. 11 (6) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the 12 date on which the pilot program under paragraph 13 (1) is completed, the Secretary shall submit to the 14 Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 15 Representatives and the Senate a report detailing— 16 (A) the effectiveness of the working group 17 established under such paragraph; and 18 (B) any recommendations to enhance the 19 data collection and management by the Sec- 20 retary with respect to on-campus suicides and 21 on-campus suicide attempts, including improve- 22 ments identified under paragraph (4). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8449 IH (7) DURATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 1 the pilot program under paragraph (1) for a period 2 that is not less than two years. 3 (8) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 4 (A) The term ‘‘on-campus attempted sui- 5 cide’’ means an attempted suicide by a veteran 6 that occurs on property of the Department of 7 Veterans Affairs. 8 (B) The term ‘‘on-campus suicide’’ means 9 a suicide by a veteran that occurs on property 10 of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 11 (b) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Section 1709B of title 38, 12 United States Code, is amended— 13 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub- 14 section (c); 15 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 16 lowing new subsection (b): 17 ‘‘(b) ON-CAMPUS SUICIDES.—On an annual basis, 18 the Secretary shall— 19 ‘‘(1) evaluate the statistical trends of suicides 20 and attempted suicides by veterans that occur on the 21 property of the Department; and 22 ‘‘(2) determine recommendations for preventing 23 such suicides and attempted suicides.’’; and 24 (3) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8449 IH (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 1 paragraph (3); and 2 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 3 following new paragraph (2): 4 ‘‘(2) Beginning with the report submitted in 5 2022, the matters under subsection (b), including 6 any other matters relating to such matters as the 7 Executive Director of the Office of Mental Health 8 and Suicide Prevention determines appropriate.’’. 9 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON THE OF- 10 FICE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 13 Comptroller General of the United States shall sub- 14 mit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the 15 House of Representatives and the Senate a report 16 on— 17 (A) the actions the Office of Mental Health 18 and Suicide Prevention of the Department of 19 Veterans Affairs has taken to meet the priority 20 objective of the Department with respect to pre- 21 venting veteran suicide; 22 (B) the challenges the Office has faced in 23 making such actions; and 24 (C) recommendations for improvements. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8449 IH (2) ELEMENTS.—The report under paragraph 1 (1) shall include, with respect to the Office, an anal- 2 ysis of— 3 (A) staffing and resource levels; 4 (B) policies and processes; 5 (C) leadership structure and stability; 6 (D) identification and prioritization of ac- 7 tivities; 8 (E) organizational and reporting structure 9 within the Department; and 10 (F) any other matters the Comptroller 11 General determines appropriate. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Oct 27, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8449.IH H8449 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS