A new report on veteran suicide by the Department of Veterans Affairs details a troubling finding about veteran isolation, which helps explain the rising suicide rate among those who served in the armed forces. 

The report found that an astonishing 61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving VA care in the last year of their life. Let that sink in. Close to two-thirds of the veterans who died by suicide that year, which is the most current data, were detached from the VA system and its many professionals and programs designed to serve as an early warning system. 

Something is terribly wrong in the government’s approach to stemming veteran suicide when the men and women standing on the abyss overwhelmingly are not accessing, or declining to access, the very system that can save them. 

The detachment comes as the suicide rate remains tragically high among veterans, particularly among younger veterans. The same report found: 

• The overall suicide rate for veterans in 2023 was 35.2 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 34.7 per 100,000 in 2022. As a comparison, the overall national suicide rate for civilians was approximately half the rate -- 18.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2023.
• Suicide was the 12th leading cause of death for veterans overall but the second leading cause of death for veterans under 45-years-old.
• The suicide rate for veterans under 34 years old was a shocking 47.9 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023, nearly three times the rate of civilians the same age. 

These latest statistics underscore the importance of ending isolation among veterans, because isolation is a powerful precursor to suicidal patterns. As the VA concludes in its summation of the research, social isolation is “arguably the strongest and most reliable predictor of suicidal ideation, (suicide) attempts, and lethal suicidal behavior.” 

Beter connecting veterans into the VA 

The danger posed by isolation heightens the importance of every veteran interaction with the VA’s bureaucracy. If they have good experiences effective at mapping out a care plan, veterans are more likely to stay connected. If not, if the interactions are excessively bureaucratic and result in greater obstacles to care, then veterans are more likely to detach and head toward isolation – and potential self-harm. 

From the perspective of my organization, dedicated to preventing isolation and curtailing suicide among veterans, the VA’s push to modernize its electronic health records (EHR) system will provide a major step in continuity of care, which is essential for keeping veterans connected to the VA. 

The advent of a new record-keeping system across 170 VA medical centers and 1,193 outpatient sites around the nation that serve approximately 9.1 million veterans might sound like a minor, logistical turn of the screw. It isn’t.

One of the main issues I hear from veterans is that the legacy records system is clunky and clumsy, that veterans often must provide their health histories to different clinicians, particularly if they use multiple VA medical centers. 

This matters especially for those on the edge. Modernized records keeping sends a strong signal to the individual patient that “they are listening to me because I don’t have to cover the same old ground.” It keeps them connected to the VA and support networks. And if they are connected, they are far less likely to harm themselves. 

A focus on continuity of care

At the level of the individual veteran, the new EHR system, under development by Oracle Health, can make strides in ending isolation and ensuring continuity of care. Once it works as advertised, it will be able to receive a service member’s medical records stored at the Department of Defense for a seamless handoff. 

Veterans no longer will need to repeat tests or repeat basic info, such as drug allergies, to each provider. Their health risks will be better tracked by clinicians and identified earlier --before spiraling out of control. They will benefit from improved strategies to address suicide risk, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. If they move from one state or region to another, their records will follow. 

Adoption of the EHR system has lagged, both due to earlier developmental problems and inadequate training of VA staff and related issues, the Government Accountability Office found in 2023. As a result, only six of the VA’s medical centers currently are using it since the Trump administration launched the effort back in 2017. 

But after a hiatus to work out the technical kinks, the agency is set to renew deployment in April at four VA facilities in Michigan and nine additional sites later this year. The effort is due for completion by 2031. 

The hope is that by knitting veterans into the VA system through better electronic records that allow for continuity of care and earlier effective intervention, more vets will stay connected and choose life. 

Frank Larkin is a former Navy SEAL, 40th U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms and father of a Navy SEAL son who died by suicide, Larkin is chairman of Warrior Call, which is dedicated to ending isolation and suicide among veterans.