Suicide Prevention Manager: Enabling the Veterans Affairs to Achieve High Reliability in Suicide Risk Identification

Leading health information technology solutions providers DSS, Inc. and Iconic Data, Inc. have deep experience in federal health care. Together, these two innovative companies have intimate knowledge of the Veterans Affairs (VA) suicide prevention initiatives and clinical workflows, as well as the VA information technology ecosystem and architecture, including the location and persistence of veteran patient care data.

Through the DSS Iconic Data Suicide Prevention Manager (SPM)™, this technology solution helps VA medical centers achieve high reliability in suicide risk identification.

SPM supports the goals of VA’s National Strategy for Preventing Suicide with a vision for implementation of a public health approach to end Veteran suicide. Executive Order 13861, signed on March 5, 2019, established a three-year effort known as PREVENTS, which further amplified this unified public health approach. SPM aligns with this VA’s mission in preventing suicide. With SPM, health care organizations deliver highly reliable care via standardized workflows, data visualization tools and real-time analytics to continuously monitor performance and ensure Veterans at a high-risk of suicide receive the best possible care.

How does SPM impact care teams and Veterans?

• Helps ensure highly reliable care for veterans at high risk for suicide

• Helps suicide prevention teams work efficiently (documented time savings)

• Improves facility performance (documented performance improvement)

SPM Benefits:

• Real-time identification of positive Columbia Suicide Screens and Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation (CSRE) follow up status (VA Risk ID Strategy Support)

• Easy identification of Veterans that are due for an annual Columbia suicide screening (Ambulatory Risk ID) at the clinic level. This helps clinics across all service lines comply with annual screening requirements

• Real-time identification of patients in the Emergency Department (ED) that require a safety plan prior to discharge to comply with Safety Planning in the ED (SPED) requirements

• Real-time automated monitoring of Veterans with high-risk flags (attendance at mental health appointments, appointment no-shows and cancellations, safety plan status, etc.)

• Push notification service (suicide prevention can be notified when events happen in the care of high-risk veterans – no shows, hospital admissions, etc.)

With SPM, care teams gain immediate insights and act faster to deliver better outcomes for high-risk Veterans.

SPM’s use cases provide an in-depth analysis of why suicide prevention is a top clinical priority for the VA and what enables them to achieve high reliability in suicide risk identification.

Use Cases:

• Real Time Monitoring of Suicide Prevention Care Pathways
  This use case describes an approach to improving the reliability of suicide prevention clinical care and administrative processes leveraging a Veterans Health Information System Technology Architecture (VistA) integrated suicide prevention management platform.

• Real-Time Identification of Positive Suicide Prevention Screenings
  This use case details the development and deployment of a real-time solution for identifying Veterans screening positive for suicide that have not yet received indicated follow-up evaluation. The system supports the VA’s journey to become a highly reliable organization. 

• Real Time Suicide Prevention Decision Support for Achieving Maximal Compliance with Safety Planning in the Emergency Department Policies in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  This use case describes the development and deployment of a real-time solution for enabling the VA to achieve high reliability with the Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED) intervention. Veterans meeting criteria for the SPED intervention and the status of their safety plans are monitored in real time.

• Real Time Decision Support for Achieving Maximal Compliance with Annual Suicide Screening Requirements in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  This use case details the development and deployment of a real-time solution for identifying Veterans that are due, but that have not yet received annual suicide screening required by policy. The system supports the VA’s high reliability.

Get copies of these SPM use cases and learn more via a customized demo.