Congress is throwing its weight behind artificial intelligence tools designed to identify veterans at high risk of suicide, backing a controversial Department of Veterans Affairs program that has flagged more than 130,000 veterans since 2017 while also attracting criticism over its treatment of women.
The fiscal 2026 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bill, signed into law last month, includes language encouraging the VA “to use predictive modeling and analytics for veteran suicide prevention.” The measure allocates $698 million for suicide prevention programs as the department grapples with a crisis that claims roughly 6,500 veteran lives each year.
At the center of this push is REACH VET, short for Recovery Engagement and Coordination for Health-Veterans Enhanced Treatment. The machine learning system scans electronic health records each month to identify veterans in the top 0.1% of suicide risk, then alerts coordinators at VA medical centers to reach out with targeted support.
The Gender Bias Problem
The program drew sharp criticism in 2024, when an investigation by The Fuller Project revealed that REACH VET’s algorithm considered being a white male a stronger indicator of suicide risk than factors that primarily or fully affect women.
The system gave preference to veterans who were “divorced and male” or “widowed and male,” but not to any group of female veterans. Military sexual trauma and intimate partner violence, both linked to elevated suicide risk among women veterans, weren’t included in the model at all.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Government data showed a 24% spike in the suicide rate among women veterans between 2020 and 2021, nearly four times the increase among male veterans. The rate among women veterans rose 10 times faster than among women who never served.
“It was difficult enough to be a woman in the military. We get harassed, we get bullied,” Air Force veteran Paulette Yazzie told reporters. “It’s offensive that VA could rationalize overlooking women veterans at risk of suicide.”
REACH VET 2.0
The VA responded by launching REACH VET 2.0 earlier this year. The updated model now includes military sexual trauma and intimate partner violence as risk factors, as previously reported in NextGov. It also removed race and ethnicity as variables, addressing concerns about racial bias.
“We updated the model to ensure it has ongoing high performance of identification of veterans at the highest risk,” Evan Carey, acting director of VA’s National Artificial Intelligence Institute, told lawmakers at a September hearing.
The changes matter because one in three women veterans report to their VA provider having experienced military sexual trauma, compared to one in 50 men. Anonymous surveys suggest the actual rate may be more than two in three women, pointing to significant underreporting.
A report from Disabled American Veterans found that military sexual trauma, intimate partner violence, substance use disorders and reproductive health challenges all contribute to higher suicide risk among women veterans. The organization had pushed for VA to revise its algorithm to account for these factors.
Humans Still Make the Call
Charles Worthington, VA’s chief technology officer and chief AI officer, told Congress that REACH VET “has used AI algorithms to identify over 130,000 veterans at elevated risk, improving outpatient care and reducing suicide attempts.”
But the system doesn’t work alone. When a veteran is flagged, specialized coordinators at each VA facility see the alert on a centralized dashboard. They then work with providers to contact the veteran, evaluate their care, and develop individualized safety plans.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski, ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Technology Modernization Subcommittee, pressed VA officials to commit that AI would never replace human intervention in suicide prevention. “We do not currently have any plans that I’m aware of to use AI as a treatment device instead of providers,” Carey responded.
Dr. Matthew Miller, VA’s executive director of suicide prevention, emphasized that REACH VET provides “that pairing of the innovation and the technology with the human touch.”
The Road Ahead
REACH VET is just one of four AI initiatives focused on suicide prevention in the VA’s 2024 inventory of 227 total AI use cases. Others include tools that analyze clinical notes for signs of suicidal thinking and identify veterans who have both gun access and active opioid use disorders.
The veteran suicide rate has remained stubbornly flat since 2008, when VA spent about $4.4 million on prevention efforts. The department now spends nearly $700 million annually, but roughly 17 veterans still die by suicide each day.
Whether AI can help bend that curve remains an open question. But with congressional backing and a revised algorithm that better accounts for women’s experiences, REACH VET 2.0 represents the VA’s most ambitious attempt yet to use technology in the fight against veteran suicide.
The Veterans Crisis Line is available 24/7 for any veteran in crisis. Call 988 and press 1, text 838255, or chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net.
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