Team Guidehouse Takes 3rd Place in VA’s Mission Daybreak Challenge to Reduce Veteran Suicides

WASHINGTO, February 16, 2023 — Guidehouse, a leading global provider of consulting and managed services to public sector and commercial clients, has taken third-place among 30 finalists in Mission Daybreak — a $20 million challenge designed to help the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) develop new suicide prevention strategies for Veterans.

Guidehouse partnered with Red Hat and Philip Held, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center, as part of “Team Guidehouse.” Team Guidehouse is helping VA and community providers identify Veterans at risk for suicide by combining VA’s suicide prevention risk model, REACH-VET, with Guidehouse’s (in)Sight Health Catalyst.

“As an early partner to VA in integrating clinical data with social determinants of health (SDoH) to identify Veterans at risk of self-harm, we are honored to be chosen as a winner in the Mission Daybreak challenge,” said Guidehouse Partner Brian Jones, DO. “Our goal is to partner with VA and industry leaders to develop mental health solutions that save Veteran lives and help VA continue to advance innovations focused on resilience, whole self-care, and empowerment.”

For more than 25 years, Guidehouse has been a proud and trusted VA partner, supporting VA’s mission of providing exceptional healthcare that improves the health and well-being of America's Veterans and their families.

From May to July 2022, Mission Daybreak received 1,371 concept submissions. Multidisciplinary panels of reviewers and judges assessed submissions according to the evaluation criteria to select the 30 finalists.

“When it comes to addressing complex public health challenges such as Veteran suicide, healthcare providers need a future-ready solution that can seamlessly integrate into existing systems and adapt as new data and insights become available,” said Brock Spradling, senior director, North America Public Sector, Red Hat, and a U.S. Navy veteran. “Through the combined power of Red Hat OpenShift and Guidehouse’s (in)Sight Health Catalyst solution, we’re helping the VA operationalize an advanced machine-learning capability that will enable them to identify those at risk more quickly and support timely interventions as they fight to put an end to Veteran suicide.”

“As clinicians, we know that SDoH have tremendous impact on our patients’ well-being, but clinical care and public health are often considered separate approaches,” said Dr. Held. “Team Guidehouse’s solutions elegantly merge these two approaches via an informatics platform capable of identifying clinical risk factors, as well as SDoH and suicide risk.”

Visit MissionDaybreak.net for more information on the challenge. Reporters covering this issue can download VA's Safe Messaging Best Practices fact sheet or visit ReportingOnSuicide.org for important guidance on how to communicate about suicide.

Recognized on Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2022 list, Guidehouse’s (in)Sight Health Catalyst connects SDoH data in real time with provider electronic health record systems. This data also supports building community-based and human-centered programs so Veterans can thrive where they are.

Ranked 2022’s second-largest healthcare management consulting firm by Modern Healthcare, Guidehouse helps providers, government agencies, life sciences companies, employers, payers, and other organizations solve the industry’s most complex challenges. With 16 KLAS #1 rankings, the Guidehouse Health team includes experts from diverse commercial and public health backgrounds who share knowledge to modernize and innovate healthcare services, finances, and operations. Visit the Guidehouse Center for Health Insights for the latest healthcare industry insights and solutions.

About Guidehouse
Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public sector and commercial markets, with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. By combining our public and private sector expertise, we help clients address their most complex challenges and navigate significant regulatory pressures focusing on transformational change, business resiliency, and technology-driven innovation. Across a range of advisory, consulting, outsourcing, and digital services, we create scalable, innovative solutions that help our clients outwit complexity and position them for future growth and success. The company has over 16,500 professionals in over 55 locations globally. Guidehouse is a Veritas Capital portfolio company, led by seasoned professionals with proven and diverse expertise in traditional and emerging technologies, markets, and agenda-setting issues driving national and global economies. For more information, please visit www.guidehouse.com.