REACH for Veterans Act

Revising and Expediting Actions for the Crisis Hotline for Veterans Act or the REACH for Veterans Act

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to update training and procedures for call responders of the Veterans Crisis Line.

Specifically, the VA must enter into an agreement with an outside organization to review the training for crisis line call responders. The VA must update the training if any deficiencies are identified after the review.

Among other requirements, the VA must

• develop guidelines on retraining and quality management for when a call responder has an adverse event or needs improvement,
• annually perform a common cause analysis for identified callers to the crisis line who died by suicide in situations where the crisis line was the last point of contact,
• develop enhanced guidance and procedures to respond to calls to the crisis line related to substance use and overdose risk,
• review the current emergency dispatch standard operating procedure of the crisis line, and
• solicit feedback from veterans service organizations on how to conduct outreach regarding the move to 988 as the new suicide and mental health crisis hotline.

Each call responder must be subject to at least two calls per month that are silently monitored by a supervisor to check for quality of conduct.

The Veterans Crisis Line, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the VA, and National Center for Patient Safety of the VA must establish quality management processes and expectations for staff of the crisis line.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov