H.R. 5570 – Veteran Suicide Prevention Act

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Updated April 14, 2026 at 10:32 AM UTC

The Veteran Suicide Prevention Act directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to examine all veterans who died by suicide and had received VA medical care during the five years before their deaths. Within 18 months of the law’s enactment, the VA must complete the review and then report its findings to Congress and make the report public. The goal is to identify patterns—especially around medication use and combat‑related trauma—to improve veteran safety and well‑being.

Key Provisions

The VA Secretary must finish a review of every veteran who died by suicide and received VA care in the prior five‑year period, no later than 18 months after the law takes effect.
The review must tally total suicides, provide demographic details (age, gender, race), and list all medications found in the veterans’ systems, highlighting any with black‑box warnings, off‑label use, psychotropic effects, or suicide‑related warnings.
It must summarize the medical diagnoses that led to those prescriptions, note instances of multiple concurrent VA‑prescribed medications, and indicate the percentage of suicides involving no VA‑prescribed drugs.
The analysis must include the share of suicides involving combat experience or trauma (e.g., military sexual trauma, TBI, PTSD) and identify VA facilities with unusually high prescription and suicide rates.
The VA must describe its prescribing policies for the flagged medications, point out any patterns uncovered, and offer recommendations for actions to improve veteran safety.
Within 30 days after completing the review, the Secretary must submit a report to Congress and make the report publicly available.

Legislative Activity

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2 earlier actions

HouseCommittee Latest Action

Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Health Subcommittee

February 7, 2020

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

January 9, 2020

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Veterans' Affairs Committee

January 9, 2020

HouseCommittee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Health Subcommittee

February 7, 2020

Bill Text

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Introduced in HouseIssued January 9, 2020

I

116th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 5570

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 9, 2020

Mr. King of New York (for himself, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Heck, Mr. Rush, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Peters, Mr. Himes, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Olson, Mr. Katko, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Amodei, Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. Welch, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Keating, Ms. Stefanik, and Mr. Cole) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a review of the deaths of certain veterans who died by suicide, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Veteran Suicide Prevention Act.

2.

Department of Veterans Affairs review of certain veterans’ deaths by suicide

(a)

Review required

Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall complete a review of the deaths of all covered veterans who died by suicide during the five-year period preceding the date of the enactment of this Act. Such review shall include—

(1)

the total number of veterans who died by suicide during the five-year period preceding the date of the enactment of this Act;

(2)

a summary of such veterans that includes the age, gender, and race of such veterans;

(3)

a comprehensive list of the medications prescribed to, and found in the systems of, such veterans at the time of their deaths, specifically listing any medications that carried a black box warning, were off-label, psychotropic, or carried warnings that included suicidal ideation;

(4)

a summary of medical diagnoses by Department of Veterans Affairs physicians which led to the prescribing of the medications referred to in paragraph (3);

(5)

the number of instances in which the veteran who died by suicide was concurrently on multiple medications prescribed by Department of Veterans Affairs physicians;

(6)

the percentage of veterans who died by suicide who were not taking any medication prescribed by a Department of Veterans Affairs physician;

(7)

the percentage of veterans referred to in paragraph (1) with combat experience or trauma (including, but not limited to military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress);

(8)

Veteran Health Administration facilities with markedly high prescription and suicide rates of patients being treated at those facilities;

(9)

a description of Department of Veterans Affairs policies governing the prescribing of medications referred to in paragraph (3);

(10)

any patterns apparent to the Secretary based on the review; and

(11)

recommendations for further action that would improve the safety and well-being of veterans.

(b)

Public availability

Not later than 30 days after the completion of the review required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall—

(1)

submit to Congress a report on the results of the review; and

(2)

make such report publicly available.

(c)

Covered veteran

In this section:

(1)

The term covered veteran means any veteran who received hospital care or medical services furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs during the five-year period preceding the death of the veteran.

(2)

The term black box warning means a warning displayed within a box in the prescribing information for drugs that have special problems, particularly ones that may lead to death or serious injury.