A recent study highlights how health care systems can mitigate suicides through comprehensive patient screening, safety planning, and mental health counseling. This finding is crucial as the United States grapples with suicide being the country’s 11th leading cause of death.
The “Zero Suicide Model,” initiated in 2001 at Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, emphasizes collaborating with patients considering suicide to reduce their access to lethal means, like firearms, and to follow through with appropriate treatment. This approach showed remarkable results, with the health system experiencing no suicides among patients for the entirety of 2009.
The model’s effectiveness inspired further research, leading to its adoption at four Kaiser Permanente locations between 2012 and 2019. The outcome was promising, with suicide and suicide attempt rates declining in three locations while the fourth maintained a consistently low rate. These trends were monitored using electronic health records, insurance claims data, and government death records.
According to Brian Ahmedani, the study’s lead author at Henry Ford Health, the reductions in suicide attempts ranged up to 25%. “That’s up to 165 to 170 suicide attempts prevented annually in these health care systems,” Ahmedani noted.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the study validates the model’s effectiveness, echoed by Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University public health professor specializing in suicide research. Keyes pointed out that most individuals who die by suicide have interacted with health care providers in the year leading to their death. With more doctors’ offices inquiring about patients’ self-harm thoughts, there’s a growing opportunity to identify those at risk.
“We are encountering people at high risk for suicide. If we don’t ask them, we may never know,” remarked Keyes, who wasn’t part of the study.
The research received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, emphasizing the necessity of federal leadership in tackling complex health issues like suicide. Mike Hogan, who has led mental health systems in multiple states and chaired a mental health commission under President George W. Bush, affirmed the study’s significance. “This research report confirms that reducing suicide among people within health systems is achievable,” Hogan stated.
The study’s findings underscore the potential for health care systems to make meaningful impacts in suicide prevention, reinforcing the need for comprehensive approaches and systemic changes in patient care.