To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include information relating to the rate of suicide among covered Reserves in each National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to include suicide rate data for Reserve and National Guard members who were never activated for federal military service in its annual National Veteran Suicide Prevention Report. Currently, the VA's annual report only tracks suicide rates for veterans who served on active duty, leaving a gap in data about former Reserve and Guard members. Congress found that in 2018 alone, there were 538 suicides among this population that went unreported in the VA's annual statistics. The bill directs the VA Secretary to work with the Department of Defense to gather and publish this information going forward, starting with the next annual report. This legislation has no specific funding or timeline provisions beyond requiring inclusion in future annual reports.
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