I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7103 

To authorize a pilot program under which the Secretary of Health and 

Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, expands and intensifies surveillance of selfharm and suicidal ideation behavior in partnership with State and local 

public health departments, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2018 

Mr. DELANEY (for himself and Mr. STEWART) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize a pilot program under which the Secretary 

of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

expands and intensifies surveillance of self-harm and suicidal ideation behavior in partnership with State and 

local public health departments, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Suicide Prevention 

5 Analytics Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE OF SELF-HARM BEHAV2 IORS AND SUICIDAL IDEATION PROGRAM. 

3 Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended 

4 by inserting after section 317T of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 247b–22) the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 317U. SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE OF SELF-HARM BE7 HAVIORS AND SUICIDAL IDEATION PRO8 GRAM. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

10 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre11 vention, shall carry out a pilot program, to be known as 

12 the Syndromic Surveillance of Self-Harm Behaviors and 

13 Suicidal Ideation Program, under which the Secretary ex14 pands and intensifies surveillance of self-harm and suicidal 

15 ideation behavior through— 

16 ‘‘(1) the selection of State and local public 

17 health departments as partners in the pilot program; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(2) the provision of assistance, including an 

20 award of funds, to each such partner. 

21 ‘‘(b) SELECTION.—In selecting State and local public 

22 health departments as partners in the pilot program under 

23 this section, the Secretary shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) seek to select a diverse set of sites; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) consider such criteria as the Secretary de2 termines to be appropriate, which criteria shall in3 clude— 

4 ‘‘(A) population coverage; 

5 ‘‘(B) geographical coverage; 

6 ‘‘(C) urban and rural community represen7 tation; and 

8 ‘‘(D) demographic makeup, including so9 cioeconomic groupings, race, gender, and eth10 nicity. 

11 ‘‘(c) NUMBER OF STATE AND LOCAL PUBLIC

12 HEALTH DEPARTMENTS.—In carrying out the pilot pro13 gram under this section, the Secretary shall enter into and 

14 maintain partnerships with the following number of State 

15 and local public health departments: 

16 ‘‘(1) For fiscal year 2019, 4 departments. 

17 ‘‘(2) For fiscal year 2020, 15 departments. 

18 ‘‘(3) For fiscal year 2021, 25 departments. 

19 ‘‘(4) For fiscal year 2022, 35 departments. 

20 ‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2023, 50 departments. 

21 ‘‘(d) PERIOD OF PARTICIPATION.—To be selected as 

22 a partner in the pilot program under this section, a State 

23 or local public health department shall agree to participate 

24 in the program for a period of not less than 2 years. 


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1 ‘‘(e) DATA SHARING BY HHS.—Subject to subsection 

2 (g), the Secretary shall, with respect to data on self-harm 

3 and suicidal ideation behavior that is collected pursuant 

4 to this section, share such data through— 

5 ‘‘(1) the National Syndromic Surveillance Pro6 gram’s Early Notification of Community Epidemics 

7 (ESSENCE) platform (or any successor platform); 

8 or 

9 ‘‘(2) another appropriate surveillance program. 

10 ‘‘(f) DATA SHARING BY PARTNERS.—As a condition 

11 on participating in the pilot program under this section, 

12 subject to subsection (g), a State or local public health 

13 department shall agree to share in real time (to the extent 

14 possible) with the Centers for Disease Control and Preven15 tion data on self-harm and suicidal ideation behavior for 

16 purposes of— 

17 ‘‘(1) tracking and monitoring self-harm and sui18 cidal ideation in real time to inform response activi19 ties to suicide clusters; 

20 ‘‘(2) informing prevention programming for 

21 identified at-risk populations; and 

22 ‘‘(3) conducting or supporting research. 

23 ‘‘(g) APPLICABILITY OF PRIVACY PROTECTIONS.— 

24 The provisions of this section shall be subject to the re25 quirements of section 552a of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 All Federal laws relating to the privacy of information 

2 shall apply to the data and information that is collected 

3 under this section. 

4 ‘‘(h) REPORTS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.—Not later than April 30th 

6 of each of calendar years 2020 through 2024, the 

7 Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress on 

8 the results of the pilot program under this section 

9 during the previous calendar year. 

10 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report under para11 graph (1) shall include the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) The specific data points captured 

13 under the pilot program under this section. 

14 ‘‘(B) Challenges in implementing the pilot 

15 program, including with respect to data collec16 tion and reporting, at State and local public 

17 health departments in their first year of partici18 pation in the program. 

19 ‘‘(C) Identification of any problems with 

20 implementation of the pilot program. 

21 ‘‘(D) Potential solutions for such problems, 

22 including a description of the estimated costs of 

23 such potential solutions. 

24 ‘‘(E) Description of any public health re25 sponse that is initiated at the Federal, State, or 


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1 local level in response to data collected through 

2 the pilot program. 

3 ‘‘(F) Recommendations for improving pub4 lic health responses to self-harm and suicidal 

5 ideation incidents. 

6 ‘‘(3) FINAL REPORT.—The final report required 

7 by paragraph (1) shall include recommendations 

8 on— 

9 ‘‘(A) whether to reauthorize and expand 

10 the pilot program under this section; and 

11 ‘‘(B) if so, how to improve the pilot pro12 gram for purposes of such reauthorization and 

13 expansion. 

14 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) The term ‘self-harm’ means any behavior 

16 that is self-directed and deliberately results in injury 

17 or the potential for injury to oneself, including non18 lethal forms of injuries to oneself, including cutting, 

19 asphyxiation, overdose of drugs (including through 

20 the use of opioids), and gun-related injuries, either 

21 with or without the intent to kill oneself. 

22 ‘‘(2) The term ‘suicidal ideation’ means think23 ing about, considering, or planning suicide. 


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1 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

2 carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro3 priated— 

4 ‘‘(1) $500,000 for fiscal year 2019; and 

5 ‘‘(2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

6 years 2020 through 2023.’’. 

Æ 


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