The Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday it will introduce a rule that will enable mental healthcare providers to identify 988 Lifeline calls based on their location.

Calls to the suicide and crisis lifeline are currently routed by area code, sometimes connecting callers with response teams who are thousands of miles away.

What You Need To Know

  • The Federal Communications Commission plans to introduce a rule that will enable mental healthcare providers to identify 988 Lifeline calls based on their location

  • Calls to the suicide and crisis lifeline are currently routed by area code

  • About 10% of U.S. adults have a cell phone number that doesn't match the state where they live

  • The proposed rulemaking is based on a recommendation in the bipartisan Local 9-8-8 Response Act introduced in Congress last December

“A few seconds and being connected to local service providers can make not just a difference but can mean the difference between life and death,” U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said Thursday during an event announcing the proposed rulemaking.

The FCC is crafting the rulemaking based on a recommendation from the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus Padilla co-founded last year with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

In December, Padilla and Tillis introduce the Local 9-8-8 Response Act to expedite the process of connecting crisis callers with the closest call center so they can receive care from mental health providers as quickly as possible.

Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

The proposed legislation would require the FCC to route calls based on the proximity of a caller to the call center instead of the area code of their phone, though callers’ specific locations will not be revealed. The bill also instructs phone carriers to allow calls and texts to 988 even if their phone plan is inactive or the carrier is experiencing a service interruption — similar to what already exists for 911 calls.

“The FCC is not waiting for the bill to pass but is initiating the first step in the rulemaking process,” Sen. Padilla said during Thursday’s announcement outside the U.S. Capitol. “It’s an important step. We urge the FCC to keep moving as quickly as possible throughout the process.”

Eighty percent of 988 calls are made on a cell phone, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. Routing callers based on where they are through a system called geo routing, “we can get resources that are local and help that’s nearby, and we may be able to save more lives.”

Rosenworcel said the FCC intends to introduce a formal rulemaking within the coming weeks, after which it will be handed off to the Department of Health and Human Services for deployment.

In the first 18 months after HHS launched 988 as an easy-to-use and free crisis help line, more than 8.5 million Americans have used it.

“We know among them there are people who are using phones that have an area code different from where they happen to be located at the time they are making the call,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Thursday. “It is indispensable to have access to a caregiver virtually immediately as you’re making that call.”

About 10% of U.S. adults have a cell phone number that doesn’t match the state where they live, according to the Pew Research Center.