This month’s issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry featured a study authored by Greg Simon, MD, and colleagues that sought to develop and validate models using electronic health records (EHRs) to predict suicide attempt and suicide death following an outpatient visit. The study spanned seven health systems and nearly 3 million patients aged 13 or older. Potential predictors included 313 demographic and clinical characteristics including prior suicide attempts, mental health and substance use diagnoses, medical diagnoses, psychiatric medications dispensed, inpatient or emergency department care, and routinely administered depression questionnaires. The researchers found that mental health specialty visits with risk scores in the top 5% accounted for 43% of subsequent suicide attempts and 48% of suicide deaths, concluding that prediction models incorporating both health record data and responses to self-report questionnaires substantially outperform existing suicide risk prediction tools.

Dr. Simon is a senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle (formerly the Group Health Research Institute) and holds an appointment as a research professor in our department. He is internationally known for his extensive research on practical approaches to improving mental health care for populations. His longtime goal has been to develop and evaluate effective real-world strategies that support better mental health, such as providing care management support by phone and online. His recent paper is a tremendous accomplishment that adds to Dr. Simon’s already impressive body of work.