Veterans Crisis Line Call Outcomes: Treatment Contact and Utilization

Abstract

Introduction: Crisis lines are a central component of suicide prevention strategies in the U.S. and for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of calling the Veterans Crisis Line on treatment contact and utilization.

Methods: Call records from 599 veterans who called in 2019 were linked with medical records and analyzed in 2020. Multilevel generalized linear modeling examined pre-post changes in treatment contact (yes/no) and utilization (number of days of care).

Results: In the month after the call, 85% of callers made contact with health care, and 79% made contact with behavioral health care. Callers were more likely to make contact with health care in the month after the call than in the preceding month (AOR=6.27, 95% CI=4.22, 9.32) and more likely to make contact with behavioral health care (AOR=10.21, 95% CI=6.66, 15.67). Days of health care nearly doubled to 4.82, and days of behavioral health care more than doubled to 3.52.

Conclusions: Among veteran callers who are linked to medical records, calling the Veterans Crisis Line may increase contact and utilization of health care and behavioral health care. These findings support crisis lines that are linked with healthcare systems in public health strategies for suicide prevention.