BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
VA primary care staff nationwide have been reorganized into "Patient Aligned Care Teams" (PACTs) in order to provide high quality management of Veterans with chronic conditions. Yet, prior research has found that many male Veterans at risk for a common chronic condition, osteoporosis (OP), are neither identified with the gold standard test for OP known as DXA, nor treated with medications. The research proposed in this application directly addresses this problem through three related studies.

OBJECTIVE(S):
The overarching goal is to identify and mitigate existing barriers to PACT-based DXA testing in high risk men. This goal will be accomplished through three related studies, whose aims include: 1) to evaluate DXA testing rates among male Veterans at high risk for osteoporosis; 2) to identify factors influencing PACT-based DXA testing of high risk men; and 3) to work with VA clinical and operations staff to develop and pilot test a PACT-based intervention to improve DXA testing.

METHODS:
Statistical methods and qualitative techniques will be used to analyze: 1) VA and Medicare claims data for older male Veterans; and 2) qualitative data collected from VA health care providers and operational leadership.

FINDINGS/RESULTS:
Not yet available.

IMPACT:
The research will: 1) address known knowledge gaps by quantifying the number of male Veterans at high risk of osteoporosis who have not been identified by a clinician; and 2) partner with VA clinical and operations staff to design and test an intervention to improve OP care. By leveraging administrative data to improve osteoporosis care, the research has the potential to reduce the considerable morbidity associated with this condition and to establish VA as a national leader in primary care- based management of geriatric chronic conditions.

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External Links for this Project

NIH Reporter

Grant Number: IK2HX001542-01A1
Link: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8865812

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PUBLICATIONS:

None at this time.

DRA: Aging, Older Veterans' Health and Care, Health Systems Science, Musculoskeletal Disorders
DRE: Treatment - Implementation
Keywords: none
MeSH Terms: none