Nearly 50,000 veterans received free emergency suicide prevention care in 2023, the first year of the program, the Department of Veterans Affairs will announce on Wednesday.

In January 2023, the Department of Veterans Affairs instituted a new policy allowing eligible veterans and certain former service members in acute suicidal crisis to go to any VA or non-VA health care facility to receive emergency care at no cost. The policy covers emergency room care, inpatient or crisis residential care for up to 30 days, and outpatient care for up to 90 days.

The VA says 49,714 veterans have taken advantage of the no-cost emergency care policy since it was implemented exactly one year ago, amounting to more than $64 million in saved health care costs.

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