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Linking Data to Understand Veteran Suicide and Direct Effective Prevention Programs. Claire Hoffmire, PhD Department of Veterans Affairs VISN2 Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention. Suicide Mortality Surveillance: The Cornerstone of Suicide Prevention. Effective surveillance systems:
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Linking Data to Understand Veteran Suicide and Direct Effective Prevention Programs Claire Hoffmire, PhD Department of Veterans Affairs VISN2 Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention
Suicide Mortality Surveillance: The Cornerstone of Suicide Prevention • Effective surveillance systems: • Inform the development of targeted prevention strategies that have the potential to meaningfully reduce suicide burden • Help to evaluate the impact of existing and newly implemented prevention programs. • National suicide surveillance systems: • National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) • NDI • VA State Mortality Project • National priority to improve suicide surveillance • 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention goal • “Increase the timeliness and usefulness of national surveillance systems relevant to suicide prevention and improve the ability to collect, analyze, and use this information for action.”
National Average: 11.44/100,000 Data obtained from WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars
Suicide among U.S. VeteransPercentage of all Suicides Identified as Veterans
The State Mortality Data Project • “The Department of Veterans Affairs believes that a comprehensive suicide prevention program requires timely and accurate information beyond that acquired from it’s internal patient population.” – 2012 Suicide Data Report • Overcome delay’s associated with national mortality data • Accurately identify true Veterans • Understand suicide among all Veterans • Evaluate differences and changes in outcomes among VHA utilizing Veterans • A State-VA Collaborative Project • In 2010 VA Secretary Shinseki requested collaboration and support from all U.S states • Data on all known suicides reported from 1999 through 2015 • Will be used, in part, to fulfill Public Law 111.163 to determine the number of Veterans who died from suicide 1999-2009
Project Status: May 2013 • Data Requested from death certificates • SSN, Name, DOB, DOD, Age, Sex, Race/ethnicity, Marital status, Education, ICD-10 Cause of death, State & County of residence, County of death, Veteran Status, Industry, occupation • Project Barriers • Inconsistent availability of requested information in all states • State barriers to providing non-resident data • State preference to provide de-indentified data due to conflicting interpretation of Social security laws
Project Status * * * * * In Negotiation
Linking to VA Data • Validation of Veteran Status • Partnership with the DOD to accurately identify all Veterans • Preliminary evidence indicates that death certificate misclassification exists • Improve comparison of Veterans to non-Veterans • Identification of VHA service utilization • Directly compare VHA & non-VHA Veterans for the first time • Medical information also available for VHA users • Inclusion of state data in suicide mortality repositories • VA Suicide Data Repository • State records, annual VA NDI all-cause search, SPAN, VCL, expanded VA-DoD NDI search • VA-DoD collaborative Data Repository • VA-DoD NDI search, limited DoD service record, DoDSER
State Mortality Project Preliminary Findings: Death Certificate misclassification of Veteran status 1999-2008 overall Sensitivity Estimates Males: 90% Females: 68% 18-39 years: 84% 40-64 years: 92%
Joining Forces to Save Lives:Why initiate or continue State-VA Partnerships? • The Veteran population is changing making accurate and timely surveillance of Veteran suicide mortality more critical than ever • Veterans make up nearly 20% of all suicide decedents • Nearly 8,000 Veterans die by suicide every year • In the next 5 years, the NAASP set a goal to save 20,000 lives = 4,000 lives annually • Partnering with the VA can greatly improve the accuracy of Veteran status reporting on death certificates • Coverage far exceeds that of NVDRS and can inform its expansion • VA and DoD can add critical information to inform prevention • VA Secretary Shinseki has requested the help of State Health Departments to improve our understanding of Veteran suicide and save lives
The Ultimate Goal: Identify all Veteran Suicides State suicide death certificates We’re working together to close this gap! VA-DOD NDI search VHA Veterans All Veteran Suicides
Acknowledgements • Jan Kemp, RN, PhD – VA National Mental Health Program Director • Robert Bossarte, PhD – Acting Associate Director, COE • Kenneth Conner, PsyD, MPH – Director, COE • Rebecca Piegari, MS – Statistician, COE • Brady Stephens, MS – Statistician, COE • Heather Shaw, BS – Research Assistant, COE • Janet McCarten, PhD – Health Science Specialist, COE • Participating State Health Department POCs