Effective Suicide Screening and Assessment in the Emergency Department Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. BILIRAKIS. Madam Speaker, this is a real problem in this country. We have a mental health crisis, and, collectively, these bills address that. So I thank the chairman and the ranking member for bringing these bills to the floor. Let's get them through today, and then passed in the Senate and have the President sign because it will make a real difference in the lives of these people who are suffering with mental illness.

Madam Speaker, our Nation remains in the midst of a suicide crisis. Over the past several decades, the suicide rate has risen sharply, increasing by 31 percent since 2001, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death, and claiming an estimated 47,000 lives annually.

A 2016 study found that 11 percent of all emergency department patients exhibited suicidal ideation. However, only 3 percent of those patients were diagnosed by current screening tools. Furthermore, about 70 percent of patients who leave the emergency department after a suicide attempt never attend their first outpatient follow-up appointment. This is just reality, and we have got to do something about this.

The Effective Suicide Screening and Assessment in the Emergency Department Act creates a voluntary HHS grant program to assist emergency departments in developing protocols for identifying, assessing, and treating individuals at risk for suicide with preference given to either critical access hospitals or hospitals located in a geographic area with a suicide risk that is higher than the national average rate.

Grants last for 2 years and grantees must submit a report annually on their efforts to improve the identification, assessment, and discharge policies for individuals who are at risk for suicide. This proactive approach is vital because emergency departments often are the first-- and, sadly, too often the only--point of contact within the healthcare system for those most at risk for suicide.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate, again, the bipartisan support of my colleague, and I worked on this with Congressman Soto.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass H.R. 1324, the Effective Suicide Screening and Assessment in the Emergency Department Act, to further equip our health providers to recognize and assist these patients in crisis.

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