Summary

Changes to the VA’s suicide-prevention grant program increase award sizes, add performance-based supplemental awards, tighten allowable spending rules, require new VA training and coordination steps, expand allowable services (including transportation), broaden how “risk of suicide” is defined, and extend the program through September 30, 2030. The bill also shifts program coordination to a different VA clinical office, requires more frequent local briefings, and adds reporting requirements about VA compliance with the new training rule.

• Shifts program coordination to the Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Clinical Services.
• Increases the base maximum grant award from $750,000 to $1,000,000.
• Authorizes up to $500,000 per grantee per year in performance-based supplemental awards tied to intake counts.
• Caps administrative costs at 30% and food/beverage costs at 5% of grant funds.
• Requires VA employee training on the grant program and adds a reporting item on training compliance.
• Requires grantee coordination with VA on appointment-attendance communications and quarterly briefings to nearby VA medical centers.
• Extends the grant program through September 30, 2030.
• Broadens the definition of “risk of suicide” and adds transportation/rideshare services as allowable funded services.
• Creates a clinical pathway trigger: veterans not seen for mental health care within 72 hours of referral are eligible for emergent suicide care under VA law.