Bold Goal, Bold Moves: Tackling Our Country’s Suicide Epidemic

Each day, we lose 132 Americans to suicide. It is the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10-14 and the third leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 15-24. It is a devastating yet preventable outcome often fueled by the mental health concerns currently plaguing our country.

While suicide rates are startling across all age groups, cases continue to increase at an alarming rate among our nation’s youth. Throughout the month of September, we have continued to recognize Suicide Prevention Month. Still, we all have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to shine a light on how we can work together to reduce suicide attempts among our communities, especially those who are most vulnerable, beyond this month.

The Mental Health Epidemic

American children and adolescents are currently facing a mental health crisis. From the unprecedented events of the last three years to the micro losses they produced, children and teens are challenged with increased feelings of sadness, anxiety and hopelessness. As a result, suicide attempts among 12- to 17-year-olds are on the rise, and almost 20% of high school students considered suicide within the last year alone.

Even more troubling, certain individuals within this age group are more likely to attempt or die by suicide. For example, attempt rates for female students were almost double that of male students, and both serious consideration of suicide and attempted suicide were highest among LGBTQ students. What’s more, suicide attempts were more common among American Indian/Alaska Native students than White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian students.

According to recent data from CVS Health and Morning Consult, most parents (58%) and teachers (78%) of adolescents 13-17 report that their child or student has approached them with a mental or emotional health concern. As the mother of two teenage daughters myself, I have witnessed how teens’ interactions on social media and pandemic-related uncertainty can have a negative impact on this age group’s mental health. I am also familiar with the discomfort these statistics—and even the word suicide—can bring. But, one thing is certain, by raising awareness and talking about suicide, we can save lives.

Our Suicide Prevention Task Force

In 2020, CVS Health formed a task force focused on suicide prevention. Since implementing our suicide prevention initiatives and efforts, we have seen progress toward reaching our bold goal of reducing suicide attempts in Aetna members 20% by 2025, including:

• A 15.7% reduction in suicide attempts amongst Aetna members through March 2022 compared to the 2019 baseline.
• A 17.5% decrease in suicide attempts in 2021 and a 34.1% decrease through March 2022 compared to the same 2019 baselines among Aetna members ages 18+.??

While these adult numbers are promising, unfortunately, significant strides must still be made for the adolescent population (13-17 years). Aetna members within this age group have seen a 32% increase in suicide attempts during the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2019.

To that end, we continue to seize the opportunity to impact this leading cause of death through key initiatives, with an emphasis on tackling the rising mental health and suicide rates among teens.?

• The Caring Contacts Program allows participating care managers to send postcards to patients recently discharged from a hospital or mental health facility following a suicide attempt. What we’ve seen is that human connection and the chance to speak to someone who can relate to certain experiences are incredibly important to those struggling. In April 2021, we expanded the Caring Contacts program to Aetna Student Health members and at-risk adolescents who are sent a “caring gift bag” at the time of in-patient and ER discharge.
• We have begun utilizing self-harm risk modeling to proactively support families with children at the highest risk of suicide attempts. Clinical staff conducts outreach to the families of these teens to identify any needs and offer support, such as evidence-based care and services, including specialized programs, peer support, group support and community services that can help the family.
• Strategic partnerships, such as those we’ve fostered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and The Trevor Project, are also a key component of our suicide prevention initiatives and have powered clinical out-patient programs, public awareness campaigns and medical practice training programs. Recently, we began collaborating with OUI Health to launch the Youth Nominated Support Program (YST) for our members. The program has been shown to reduce mortality in teenagers with histories of suicide and is available nationwide. In addition, a teen-specific therapy and app program from OUI is also available to adolescent members in 22 states.

Progress fuels a continuation and expansion of our methods and helps us remain hopeful that we can decrease suicide rates for a particularly vulnerable demographic: teenagers.

This article only scratches the surface of the work we are doing to address the mental health crisis feeding the suicide epidemic. With the growing body of suicide prevention research, the support of our network and the help of advanced technology and data modeling, CVS Health’s bold goal of reducing suicide attempts by 20% among Aetna members by 2025 seems within reach.

Let’s continue to talk about the difficult topic of suicide and raise awareness of resources available to those in need. Together, we can not only meet this goal but work to end deaths by suicide altogether.?