Overview
On November 3, 2022, House Bill 220 (or Act 101 of 2022) was signed into law, authorizing the creation of county suicide or overdose death review teams and outlining the process for the establishment of these teams.
A county, or two or more counties, may establish a suicide death review team, an overdose death review team, or both, for the purposes of collecting and examining suicide or overdose fatality information. The goal of this information gathering is to improve community resources and systems of care in an effort to reduce suicide or overdose fatalities.
The following webpage provides information on the establishment and coordination of death review teams. A section for frequently asked questions is included at the bottom of the webpage.
Establishment
A county may establish a county death review team or jointly with other counties. If a joint county death review team is established, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the participating counties is required to be executed by the multicounty team members. The MOU shall contain information on team membership, staffing, and operations.
Upon establishment of a death review team, the death review team is required to notify the Department of Health.
Membership Requirements
Act 101 requires death review teams be multidisciplinary and culturally diverse. Professionals and representatives from organizations that provide services or community resources for families in the community are to be included among those death review team members selected.
Members of overdose death review teams and suicide death review teams are to be chosen from the categories outlined within Section 2128 (b) of Act 101.
Annual Report
A death review team is required to submit an annual report to the Department of Health. In addition, this report is to be published on the local department of health's or local government's publicly accessible internet website.
Further information on what this annual report shall contain is outlined in the FAQ section.
Questions
If you have questions, please e-mail RA-DHODSdeathreview@pa.gov for assistance. The department will continue to update the FAQ section below for commonly asked questions, so please check back regularly for updates.
Notification Form
Upon their establishment, county death review teams are required to notify the PA Department of Health. Please complete the notification form to comply with this requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Act 101 requires death review teams meet at least quarterly to conduct business and review suicide deaths and overdose deaths. A death review team shall select a chair by a majority vote of a quorum of death review team members. A majority of a death review team's selected members shall constitute a quorum.
Under Act 101, an "overdose death" and "suicide death" are defined as follows:
- "Overdose:" An alcohol or substance overdose.
- "Overdose death:" A fatality resulting from one or more substances taken in excessive amounts.
- "Suicide death:" A fatality caused by injuring oneself with the intent to die.
Local death review teams must ensure that all elements required by Act 101 of 2022 are included in the annual report, as outlined in section C of the statute. This includes:
- A summary of the aggregated, non-individually identifiable findings of the death review team for the previous year.
- Recommendations to improve systems of care and community resources to reduce fatal suicides or overdose in the death review team's jurisdiction.
- Proposed solutions for inadequacies in the systems of care.
- Recommendations to improve sources of information regarding the investigation of reported suicides and overdose deaths, including standards for the uniform and consistent reporting of fatal suicides and overdoses by law enforcement or other emergency service responders within the death review team's jurisdictions.
- Recommendations for improvements to state laws and local partnerships, policies and practices to prevent suicide and overdose fatalities.
The Department also recommends that the local death review team's annual report contain a summary of:
- The local death review team's work over the previous year, such as how many times the team met and how many deaths were reviewed
- Additional dissemination efforts beyond publishing reports on the local department of health's or local government's publicly accessible internet website
- Efforts to implement recommendations
- Barriers experienced by the local death review team conducting reviews, such as lack of key member participation, inability to obtain records for the review, etc.
Death review teams shall submit their annual reports by email to RA-DHODSdeathreview@pa.gov
The annual report shall cover the calendar year (January 1 through December 31).
At this time, the PA Department of Health does not have formatting requirements for death review team's annual report.
The PA Department of Health must submit an annual report to the Governor and General Assembly by September of each year. To ensure the PA DOH has sufficient time to review and compile summaries of local death review teams findings and recommendations, death review teams must submit their annual report by May 31st.
Death review teams shall submit their first annual report covering period January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023 to the PA Department of Health by May 31, 2024. Please note, for the first annual report, death review teams may provide information and recommendations established from prior periods. Providing information and recommendations from prior periods is optional for the 2023 annual report.
For a county's death review team to receive the powers and duties under Act 101, it must comply with all of its requirements, including, but not limited to, membership, notification to the Department of Health of establishment, and annual reports. Act 101 does not explicitly prevent death review teams to exist that perform similar functions using other powers and duties.
Act 101 only provides for a county or two or more counties to establish a suicide death review team, an overdose death review team, or both. Act 101 does not apply to municipal-level review teams.