VHA Suicide Prevention Media Outreach Is Falling Short—But Not for Lack of Money

The GAO has made 2 recommendations to the VA based on its audit:

1. The Under Secretary for Health should establish an approach for overseeing its suicide prevention media outreach efforts that includes “clear delineation of roles and responsibilities for those in leadership and contract oversight roles, including during periods of staff turnover or program changes.”
2. Officials within the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (OMHSP) must establish targets for the metrics used to evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness.

In written comments, the VA concurred with the GAO recommendations and provided a time line for addressing them. VA said OMHSP has made organizational improvements, including creating a new organizational structure. It also has plans to work with communications experts to develop metrics, targets, and an evaluation strategy, expected to be completed by April 2019.