Timeliness of Mental Health Care Following a Suicide Attempt or Intentional Self-Harm Incident for Children Enrolled in Medicaid

Rates of suicide attempts and intentional self-harm among youth are on the rise. A previous suicide attempt is the most important predictor of death by suicide, and the risk of death by suicide is highest in the period immediately after a hospitalization or emergency department visit for a suicide attempt or intentional self-harm incident. As such, providing timely mental health followup care is critical to decreasing the likelihood of rehospitalization and preventing suicide. We will conduct an evaluation to assess whether children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) who had an emergency department visit or hospitalization for a suicide attempt or intentional self-harm incident received mental health followup care within established timeframes. We will also examine whether certain groups of children in our population were less likely to receive timely mental health followup care after a hospitalization or emergency department visit. Finally, we will interview subject matter experts to identify the challenges and best practices that States encountered when working to ensure that youth enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP receive timely mental health followup care.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
October 2023	Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services	Timeliness of Mental Health Care Following a Suicide Attempt or Intentional Self-Harm Incident for Children Enrolled in Medicaid	Office of Evaluation and Inspections	OEI-07-23-00510	2025