Purpose

• Expand and strengthen Minnesota’s approach to suicide prevention and crisis response by updating reporting requirements and adding stronger oversight and coordination for the 988 Lifeline (the national suicide and crisis lifeline).

Main Provisions

• Reporting and evaluation of suicide prevention efforts

  • Requires periodic evaluations of the impact and outcomes of Minnesota’s suicide prevention plan and related activities.
  • When funds are available, the commissioner must conduct these evaluations.
  • By July 1, 2002 and every even-numbered year thereafter, the results must be reported to the chairs of the House and Senate committees with health and human services jurisdiction.

• 988 Lifeline oversight and center requirements

  • The commissioner will oversee the designation of 988 Lifeline centers to answer calls, chats, or other contacts from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in Minnesota, 24/7.
  • Each designated 988 Lifeline Center must:
  • Have an active agreement with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline program.
  • Meet program requirements and best-practice guidelines for operations and clinical standards.
  • Provide data and reports and participate in evaluations and quality improvement activities required by the 988 Lifeline program and the department.
  • Identify or adopt technology that works across Minnesota’s mobile crisis services and public safety answering points (PSAPs) for crisis care coordination.
  • Facilitate crisis services and outreach, including mobile crisis teams, per program and department guidelines.
  • Collaborate with mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers, local community mental health centers (including certified community behavioral health clinics) and mobile crisis teams, as well as hospital emergency departments.
  • Offer follow-up services to people who use the 988 Lifeline, consistent with guidelines.
  • Meet requirements for serving at-risk and specialized populations.
  • The commissioner must adopt rules to allow appropriate information sharing between crisis and emergency response systems.

• Coordination, messaging, and protocols

  • The commissioner overseeing suicide prevention must work with the 988 Lifeline program, the Veterans Crisis Line, and other SAMHSA-approved networks to ensure consistent public messaging about 988 services.
  • The commissioner will collaborate with 988 Lifeline Centers, public safety answering points, and other public safety agencies to develop protocols for interactions between 988 services and 911. Protocols should follow national standards and guidelines.

• Reporting on 988 Lifeline usage

  • The commissioner must provide an annual or biennial public report on 988 Lifeline usage by July 1 of each even-numbered year.
  • The report should include data on answer rates, abandoned calls, and referrals to 911 emergency response.
  • The biennial 988 Lifeline report may be included as a section in Minnesota’s state suicide prevention report required under the existing suicide prevention statute.

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• Adds formal, biannual (biennial) and/or annual reporting requirements tied to the state’s suicide prevention plan and the 988 Lifeline program.
• Establishes a clear framework for Minnesota to designate and oversee 988 Lifeline centers, with specific operational, clinical, data, and collaboration requirements.
• Requires interoperability between crisis services and emergency response systems (including 911), along with shared protocols and standardized public messaging.
• Introduces a formal mechanism for ongoing data collection, evaluation, and public reporting on 988 Lifeline usage and outcomes.

Implementation and Oversight

• The commissioner of health (or equivalent state department) will manage designations, oversight, data reporting, and rulemaking related to 988 Lifeline centers.
• Funding, if available, will enable the required evaluations and reporting.

Relevant Terms - suicide prevention plan - periodic evaluations - biennial reports - 988 Lifeline - Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - 988 Lifeline Center - operational and clinical standards - data and reports - quality improvement - mobile crisis teams - crisis care coordination - public safety answering points (PSAPs) - interoperable technology - information sharing - 911 protocols - Veterans Crisis Line - SAMHSA-approved networks - public messaging about 988 services - at-risk populations - community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs) - follow-up services - referrals to 911 emergency response