FCC passes new rules to enhance reliability, access to 988 Lifeline service

FCC commissioners today unanimously approved new rules that are designed to ensure that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is as accessible as possible by requiring service providers to report outages to key stakeholders in a timely manner and try to reroute 988 calls to available crisis centers.

Last December, the 988 Lifeline—the three-digit number that replaced a 10-digit suicide hotline a year ago—suffered a nationwide outage that lasted several hours. Once informed of the outage, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified the public of alternative ways to contact that 988 Lifeline, such as via texting or webchat.

With this in mind, the new FCC rules require service providers to report outages lasting at least 30 minutes to the FCC’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS)—a procedure similar to the requirement for outages that potentially impact 911 services.

“Today, we establish rules that require reporting and notification in the event of any future 988 outage, just as we require with 911,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said during today’s open meeting. “That means any hotline outage will be recorded in the Network Outage Reporting System, and this information will be shared directly with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the 988 administrator.

“Like with 911, it is vital that any problems with 988 are shared fast with the right people, so we understand what went wrong, and we can make it right.”

Although the 988 Lifeline service is relatively new, it has provided support to users making almost 5 million calls, text and chat messages. This figure represents a 35% increase when compared to the calls made to the 10-digit Lifeline number the previous year, according to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who noted that “there is still work to do” in association with the 988 service.

Increased usage is no doubt a metric of success, but we cannot slow down when it comes to providing potentially life-saving services,” Starks said during the meeting. “I’m proud of our telecom community for not taking its foot off the gas here.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said he spoke with call-takers in a 988 call center in South Dakota about the impact that the 988 service is having.

“One of the things they talked to me about was that the number of calls and texts they are seeing increased from about 260 per month, on average, under the 1-800 number, to 800 per month now with 988,” Carr said during the FCC meeting.

Not only have the raw number of calls increased, the nature of the calls also has changed, according to Carr.

“What they [the South Dakota 988 call-takers] explained was that when people called 1-800, the suicide prevention hotline, a lot of times people had a very narrow view of what that number was intended to do—it was purely for suicide, right when you were at the peak moment of crisis,” he said. “With 988, there is sort of a different branding, so that people are now calling in calling in at an earlier phase in the crisis lifecycle, which can be easier to de-escalate at that point in time.

“So, we’re getting more people calling. We’re getting more people reaching out at an earlier stage, and people are associating it with a broader set of mental-health challenges that they can get help from. So, there has been a really tremendous upside that I don’t know that we could have fully appreciated on the front end. But I’m glad that we have gone down this path, and this item has my support.”

Commissioner Nathan Simington echoed this sentiment.

“I am happy to support this item setting up an outage-notification regime for the 988 systems that is similar to the one that we’ve set up for the 911 system,” Simington said. “Mental-health crises can be as serious as any other medical emergency, and the unavailability of the 988 system could keep someone from getting help when they need it most.”

Rosenworcel noted ongoing efforts to enhance 988 reliability beyond the reporting requirements.

“Right now, we have underway a trial that tests routing 988 calls from those in crisis to make sure they receive care where they are, rather than just based on their area code,” Rosenworcel said. “We are mindful that this is not just a technical matter; because when it comes to healthcare, there are vitally important issues with privacy and security. And as we develop technical solutions, we want experts in mental health to be there with us every step of the way.”