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 property of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Veterans’ Sentinel 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ON COLLECTING AND ANALYZING 

2 DATA REGARDING CERTAIN VETERAN SUI3 CIDES. 

4 (a) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

7 of Veterans Affairs shall establish in the Office of 

8 Mental Health and Suicide Prevention a pilot pro9 gram under which the Secretary establishes a work10 ing group in the Office to collect and analyze data 

11 regarding on-campus suicides and on-campus at12 tempted suicides. 

13 (2) WORKING GROUP.— 

14 (A) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the 

15 working group established under paragraph (1) 

16 shall be selected from among staff representing 

17 each of the following: 

18 (i) The Office of Mental Health and 

19 Suicide Prevention. 

20 (ii) The Veterans Health Administra21 tion. 

22 (iii) The Veterans Benefits Adminis23 tration. 

24 (iv) The National Cemeteries Admin25 istration. 


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1 (v) The Office of Operations, Secu2 rity, and Preparedness of the Department. 

3 (vi) The National Patient Safety Cen4 ters of the Department. 

5 (vii) Any other element of the Depart6 ment as the Secretary determines appro7 priate. 

8 (B) REPORTING.—The working group shall 

9 report directly to the Executive Director of the 

10 Office of Mental Health and Suicide Preven11 tion. 

12 (3) METHODOLOGY.—In collecting and ana13 lyzing the information under paragraph (1), the 

14 working group shall— 

15 (A) use root cause analysis to review all 

16 on-campus suicides and on-campus attempted 

17 suicides; 

18 (B) with respect to on-campus suicides— 

19 (i) conduct Behavioral Health Au20 topsy Program assessments, including fam21 ily interviews; and 

22 (ii) document reasons for any defi23 ciencies in the data collected; and 

24 (C) not less frequently than every 90 days, 

25 communicate with the medical centers and field 


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1 offices of the Department in order to coordinate 

2 the collection and review actions of the working 

3 group with such actions carried out by the med4 ical centers and field offices. 

5 (4) DATA COLLECTION INTAKE IMPROVE6 MENTS.—The working group shall consider, and 

7 may implement for purposes of the pilot program 

8 under paragraph (1), improvements to the process 

9 by which the Secretary collects data on on-campus 

10 suicides and on-campus attempted suicides to unify 

11 the disparate sources of such data, including with 

12 respect to— 

13 (A) modifying incident reports and other 

14 methods to collect data, including both suicide 

15 and attempted suicide report fields; 

16 (B) developing and ensuring that each 

17 data source, including the Behavioral Health 

18 Autopsy Program assessment, relating to on19 campus suicides and on-campus attempted sui20 cides include a specified section for such on21 campus incidents; and 

22 (C) developing an associated management 

23 system to consolidate all relevant data for on24 campus suicides and on-campus attempted sui25 cides, including such data from Behavioral 


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1 Health Autopsy Program assessments, health 

2 records of the Department, root cause analyses, 

3 incident reports, and other sources of data. 

4 (5) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than one year after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 

6 thereafter during the life of the pilot program under 

7 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide to the 

8 Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 

9 Representatives and the Senate a briefing on the 

10 progress and findings of the working group estab11 lished under such paragraph. 

12 (6) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the 

13 date on which the pilot program under paragraph 

14 (1) is completed, the Secretary shall submit to the 

15 Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 

16 Representatives and the Senate a report detailing— 

17 (A) the effectiveness of the working group 

18 established under such paragraph; and 

19 (B) any recommendations to enhance the 

20 data collection and management by the Sec21 retary with respect to on-campus suicides and 

22 on-campus suicide attempts, including improve23 ments identified under paragraph (4). 


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1 (7) DURATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 

2 the pilot program under paragraph (1) for a period 

3 that is not less than two years. 

4 (8) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 (A) The term ‘‘on-campus attempted sui6 cide’’ means an attempted suicide by a veteran 

7 that occurs on property of the Department of 

8 Veterans Affairs. 

9 (B) The term ‘‘on-campus suicide’’ means 

10 a suicide by a veteran that occurs on property 

11 of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

12 (b) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Section 1709B of title 38, 

13 United States Code, is amended— 

14 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub15 section (c); 

16 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol17 lowing new subsection (b): 

18 ‘‘(b) ON-CAMPUS SUICIDES.—On an annual basis, 

19 the Secretary shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) evaluate the statistical trends of suicides 

21 and attempted suicides by veterans that occur on the 

22 property of the Department; and 

23 ‘‘(2) determine recommendations for preventing 

24 such suicides and attempted suicides.’’; and 

25 (3) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— 


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1 (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

2 paragraph (3); and 

3 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

4 following new paragraph (2): 

5 ‘‘(2) Beginning with the report submitted in 

6 2022, the matters under subsection (b), including 

7 any other matters relating to such matters as the 

8 Executive Director of the Office of Mental Health 

9 and Suicide Prevention determines appropriate.’’. 

10 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON THE OF11 FICE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

14 Comptroller General of the United States shall sub15 mit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

16 House of Representatives and the Senate a report 

17 on— 

18 (A) the actions the Office of Mental Health 

19 and Suicide Prevention of the Department of 

20 Veterans Affairs has taken to meet the priority 

21 objective of the Department with respect to pre22 venting veteran suicide; 

23 (B) the challenges the Office has faced in 

24 making such actions; and 

25 (C) recommendations for improvements. 


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1 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report under paragraph 

2 (1) shall include, with respect to the Office, an anal3 ysis of— 

4 (A) staffing and resource levels; 

5 (B) policies and processes; 

6 (C) leadership structure and stability; 

7 (D) identification and prioritization of ac8 tivities; 

9 (E) organizational and reporting structure 

10 within the Department; and 

11 (F) any other matters the Comptroller 

12 General determines appropriate. 

Æ 


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