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The Veterans Health Administration REACH VET Program: Suicide Predictive Modeling in Practice
Bridget B Matarazzo1, Aaron Eagan1, Sara J Landes1
1Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center for Suicide Prevention, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (Matarazzo, Clark, Gerard, Bahraini, Brenner, Lawson), and Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (Matarazzo, Bahraini, Brenner), Aurora; Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (OMHSP), VA, Washington, D.C. (Eagan, McCarthy, Katz); Quality Enhancement Research Initiative for Team-Based Behavioral Health, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, North Little Rock, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock (Landes); Program Evaluation and Resource Center, OMHSP, VA, Menlo Park, California (Mina, Trafton); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (McCarthy); Veterans Integrated Service Network 4, VA, Pittsburgh (Keen); Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Veterans Integrated Service Network 2, Canandaigua, New York, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York (Gamble); Puget Sound Health Care System, VA, and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle (Reger).
The U.S. Veterans Health Administration
Area of Science:
- Mental Health
- Public Health
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Suicide is a significant concern among veterans.
- The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) sought to improve suicide prevention strategies.
- Existing methods required enhancement for efficient risk identification and care connection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the Recovery Engagement and Coordination for Health-Veterans Enhanced Treatment (REACH VET) program.
- To assess the implementation of a novel suicide prediction model within a large healthcare system.
- To determine the program's success in connecting at-risk veterans with necessary care.
Main Methods:
- Development and implementation of a suicide prediction statistical model.
- National rollout of the REACH VET clinical program starting April 2017.
- Collection and analysis of metric data from electronic health records through October 2020.
Main Results:
- The REACH VET program demonstrated high feasibility within the VHA.
- 98% of identified at-risk veterans (N=6,579) were contacted by providers.
- Veterans identified by the model had their care evaluated, indicating successful program engagement.
Conclusions:
- Implementing a clinical program based on a suicide prediction model is feasible in the nation's largest healthcare system.
- The REACH VET program successfully identified and engaged a high percentage of at-risk veterans.
- This initiative represents a valuable advancement in veteran suicide prevention efforts.
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