3.0.0 2283 2022-12-31T05:25:55Z 2022-12-31T05:25:55Z Senate S 2021-06-24 117 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Standing Hearings by 2021-10-20T19:14:05Z Referred to 2021-06-24T19:42:04Z REACH for Veterans Act 117 5073 HR 2021-10-14 Subcommittee Hearings Held. Identical bill CRS 2021-10-20 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Committee 2021-06-24 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. IntroReferral 2021-06-24 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress T000464 Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT] Jon Tester D MT N M000934 Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS] Jerry Moran R KS 2021-06-24 True M001111 Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] Patty Murray D WA 2021-10-05 False C001088 Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] Christopher Coons D DE A. 2021-10-25 False B001236 Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] John Boozman R AR 2021-11-15 False F000062 Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA] Dianne Feinstein D CA 2021-11-15 False B001277 Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] Richard Blumenthal D CT 2021-12-06 False O000174 Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] Jon Ossoff D GA 2021-12-14 False L000570 Sen. Lujan, Ben Ray [D-NM] Ben Lujan D NM R. 2021-12-15 False Armed Forces and National Security Congressional oversight Department of Veterans Affairs Drug, alcohol, tobacco use Emergency communications systems Emergency medical services and trauma care Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management Government information and archives Health promotion and preventive care Mental health Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations Telephone and wireless communication Veterans' medical care Veterans' organizations and recognition Armed Forces and National Security 00 2021-06-24 Introduced in Senate 2021-09-29T11:37:20Z 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.

]]> REACH for Veterans Act Official Title as Introduced A bill to improve the Veterans Crisis Line of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Display Title REACH for Veterans Act Short Title(s) as Introduced REACH for Veterans Act Introduced in Senate IS Short Title(s) as Introduced Revising and Expediting Actions for the Crisis Hotline for Veterans Act Introduced in Senate IS Introduced in Senate 2021-06-24T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-117s2283is/xml/BILLS-117s2283is.xml 2021-10-20 Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.