Sponsor
Jerry Moran
Senator · R-KS
Senator · R-KS
The bill increases funding, access, and oversight for veteran suicide-prevention services—improving timely care and coordination—but does so with tighter spending caps, new performance incentives, organizational changes, and higher federal costs that could constrain providers or shift program priorities.
Veterans and community suicide-prevention programs will receive larger grants and optional performance bonuses (base grants raised from $750K to $1M with up to $500K bonuses), enabling expansion of local outreach and services.
Veterans will be eligible for emergent suicide care from grantees if the VA does not provide mental/behavioral health services within 72 hours after referral, improving timely access to urgent care.
Veterans, VA medical centers, and local providers will have improved care continuity because grantees must coordinate appointment-attendance communications and provide quarterly briefings to nearby VA medical centers.
Taxpayers may face higher federal costs because the bill increases authorized grant amounts, adds potential large performance bonuses, and extends program funding through 2030.
Veterans and providers may experience lower-quality care if grantee payments tied to intake counts incentivize volume over clinical quality and appropriate services.
Nonprofit grantees may struggle operationally because a 30% cap on administrative spending could limit necessary costs for coordination, billing, evaluation, and other overhead.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Amends the VA suicide-prevention grant program to raise award limits, add a $500K performance supplement, impose spending caps, require VA training/briefings, extend authorization to 2030, and broaden eligibility language.
Official title: Amend the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 to modify and reauthorize the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 26, 2025 by Jerry Moran · Last progress March 26, 2025
Changes to the VA’s Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant program shift program coordination to a different VA office, raise maximum award levels and add a performance-based supplemental award, tighten allowable spending limits, and add coordination, training, and reporting requirements. The bill also extends the program through 2030, requires VA employee training and local briefings near grantees, broadens definitions used for eligibility, and makes several technical and reporting adjustments to improve oversight and implementation. Overall, the changes expand funding opportunities for community suicide-prevention grantees while imposing clearer spending caps and new coordination, training, and reporting duties for VA and grantees to improve follow-up care and program accountability.