Sponsors (8)
The bill aims to expand veteran-focused suicide-prevention training, transparency, and data to improve access to trained clinicians and oversight, but it increases administrative costs and burdens and carries risks from public lists and reporting that could mislead veterans or disadvantage some providers.
Veterans: More clinicians completing VA-recognized, evidence-based suicide-prevention training improves early identification and intervention for veterans at risk of suicide.
Veterans and families: A publicly available preferred-provider list and monitoring makes it easier to find clinicians who completed veteran-specific suicide-prevention training, increasing access to trained providers.
Healthcare workers and hospitals: Access to VA-provided or VA-recognized training and publication of training counts helps improve provider skills, reveals training gaps, and encourages more clinicians to complete veteran-focused suicide-prevention training.
Taxpayers and the VA: Developing, delivering, annually verifying training, maintaining the public list, and producing detailed reports will impose additional administrative and reporting costs.
Veterans: If the preferred-provider list or annual verifications are incomplete or out of date, veterans could be misled about provider qualifications and receive suboptimal care.
Healthcare providers and hospitals: Enrolling, documenting training, and complying with listing/removal procedures creates extra administrative burden and paperwork for clinicians and systems.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires VA to offer annual suicide‑prevention training, publish a public Preferred Provider List of trained providers, and report to Congress on implementation and effects.
Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer annual, evidence‑based suicide‑prevention training to covered community providers and to maintain a public “Preferred Provider List” of providers who complete that training. The VA may accept substantially similar non‑VA training that meets military health care competency standards, must verify completion annually, and must make training available within 180 days of enactment. Directs the VA to report to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees within 180 days and annually thereafter on implementation and effects of the Preferred Provider List, including provider counts, use patterns, and recommendations to improve veteran access to care.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a list of covered providers that complete annual training on the prevention of suicide among veterans and to make such list available to veterans.
Introduced May 13, 2026 by Bill Huizenga · Last progress May 13, 2026