Attachment D.18 - REACH VET One Pager.docx

REACH VET: Recovery Engagement and Coordination for Health- Veterans Enhanced Treatment

What is REACH VET?

· REACH VET summarizes information from the Veterans Health Record and uses predictive modeling to identify Veterans at statistical risk for suicide and other negative outcomes. This tool supplements clinical strategies used to identify at-risk Veterans and may help providers intervene prior to these negative outcomes occurring.

· The REACH VET program:

· Helps alert facilities of Veterans at the top 0.1% increased statistical risk at each facility

· Summarizes past two years of health record data to streamline clinical review

· Provides an additional data point for conceptualization and treatment

· Offers an opportunity to engage Veterans in their own healthcare and make enhancements, as indicated The Predictive Model

· Utilizes clinical and administrative data from the past 2 years for each Veteran utilizing VHA health care services

Calculated Risk as compared to overall VHA population

· Although identified Veterans are at high statistical risk for adverse outcomes, including suicide, this does not necessarily indicate current acute clinical risk for suicide. Therefore, it is critical to reach out to these Veterans to assess current risk and offer support.

REACH VET Process

· REACH VET is intended to supplement, rather than replace, current clinical strategies

· REACH VET steps can be integrated into the existing workflow to reduce workload and enhance collaboration and continuity of care (e.g., utilizing BHIP meetings to discuss cases and make decisions).

· Identified Veterans have complex care needs and may be at risk for both adverse medical and mental health outcomes. Providers should take a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to REACH VET responsibilities:

· Chart reviews should be comprehensive, looking at both medical and mental health aspects of care.

· Ideally, all providers of the Veteran’s treatment team should be aware of the Veteran’s statistical risk and involved in enhancing care when indicated.

Impact of REACH VET

· Findings from McCarthy and others (2021) indicate REACH VET patients complete more outpatient appointments, decreases in the percent of missed appointments, greater initiation of suicide prevention safety plans, decreases in inpatient mental health admissions, reduced Emergency Department visit days and reduction in documented suicide attempts.

Resources

· REACH VET SharePoint: REACH VET Resources (sharepoint.com)

· REACH VET Support email: VHAReachVetSupport@va.gov

· REACH VET Dashboard and Reports: Suicide Risk Identification and Management - Dashboard and Reports - All Documents (sharepoint.com) REACH VET releases names monthly to alert facility to Veterans within the top 0.1% of statistical risk

REACH VET Coordinator receives the names and identifies the provider that works most closely with the Veteran

REACH VET provider re-evaluates care, considers treatment-enhancement strategies, outreaches the Veteran, and documents using CPRS templates