FCC poised to require calls to the 988 suicide hotline be geolocated
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Routing calls based on location versus a person’s area code is already standard for calls coming into 911. Elected officials and mental health advocates want 988 calls to be geolocated as well. A new FCC proposal would do that.
Two stories shared during a recent Federal Communications Commission meeting on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline showed how important it is to know where people are calling from.
Ann Mazur, CEO of Maryland-based mental health services and support nonprofit EveryMind, shared one instance where a crisis counselor was quickly able to connect a 16-year-old whose mother was contemplating suicide with local services based on her Maryland area code.
But Mazur also shared a story about another call to 988 from a cellphone with a Maryland area code. The caller was in distress over her breast cancer diagnosis and impending medical bills. After speaking with her, the counselor discovered she was not located in Maryland as her area code suggested, but in a parking lot in Utah.
Georouting is already used for calls coming into 911. The two incidents described by Mazur reflect the need for 988 to have the same capacity. Instead of connecting people to services based on their phone’s area code, Mazur and others want calls to be directed based on where they are coming from. Without the ability to geolocate a call, counselors are unable “to provide tailored support, underscoring the need for a more effective system,” she said.
The FCC has been working with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and wireless carriers like Verizon since the summer to test routing calls based on where a person in crisis is generally located. And last month, the FCC officially proposed requiring georouting, which would allow all wireless calls to be routed to local services based on factors like the cell tower where the call originated.
Proponents of georouting 988 calls say it is especially important given the transient nature of many areas, including major cities. Mazur pointed to a survey from the Pew Research Center in 2016 that found that 10% of U.S. adults have a cellphone number from a different state than the one they live in. FCC commissioners said georouting represents a vital improvement to the 988 service, especially as around 80% of the 9.6 million calls it has received since its launch in 2022 are from a cellular device.
“Doing everything we can to ensure that individuals experiencing a crisis can receive the support they need saves lives and is simply good policy,” Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement.
The demand for mental health services has “surged dramatically” since Congress established the hotline and it launched in 2022. But while the growth in call volumes has shown that 988 fills an important public need, the service is still working out the kinks, including a lack of public awareness.
The Pew Charitable Trusts found last year that just 18% of U.S. adults had heard of 988, while just 13% had heard of the service and knew its purpose. Of those who had heard of the hotline, 26% said they did not know or were unsure of when someone should contact it. The hotline has also struggled with long hold times and staffing shortages.
The push for geolocation isn’t just coming from public health advocates. The National Association of Counties has been lobbying for calls to be properly routed. And late last year, Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico introduced bipartisan legislation to improve call routing to 988 while protecting personal privacy.
The legislation notably received support from CTIA, a trade group that represents the wireless communications industry. In a statement at the time of the bill’s introduction, Kelly Cole, CTIA’s senior vice president for government affairs, said the “wireless industry is committed to ensuring those seeking life-saving mental health services are connected to the 988 Lifeline and its affiliated crisis centers.”
In its rulemaking on georouting, FCC commissioners called for the cooperation of wireless providers to make it a reality. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement that she wrote to them last year asking for help, and said the companies have already made “headway” on “development, testing, and trial efforts.” She added that the Department of Health and Human Services and the 988 administrator will also play a crucial role in making georouting a reality.
“Mental health and crisis counseling experts advise that connecting callers in crisis with local crisis centers is vitally important,” Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said in a statement. “Not only does it ensure that callers have access to nearby public health and safety resources, but local counselors may be more familiar with cultural issues or community stressors in the caller’s area.”
The FCC is now receiving public comment on its proposal. Final passage could follow later this year.
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