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"Teaming Up for High Value Care" was the theme of the 28th VA Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) National Meeting that was held February 16-18, 2011 at the Gaylord Hotel, National Harbor, MD. This year's theme emphasized HSR&D's priority to establish and maintain close collaborative relationships with its program partners, so that research is more responsive and the findings are more likely to be implemented into practice. Hosted by HSR&D's Northwest Center for Outcomes Research in Older Adults, the Meeting was attended by more than 650 policymakers, clinicians, and researchers. Ninety papers, 21 workshops, and 113 posters were presented on vital healthcare issues, such as: chronic disease management, homelessness among Veterans, women Veterans' healthcare needs, informatics (e.g., telemedicine, new e-Health QUERI), screening (e.g., alcohol, cancer), as well as issues specifically related to deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan (e.g., traumatic brain injury, PTSD).
Meeting highlights included a keynote address by VA's Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health Robert Jesse, M.D., Ph.D., who spoke about the importance of an integrated healthcare system. Dr. Jesse also spoke about the importance of differentiating between "delivering health care," which is what VA provides to patients - from "healthcare delivery," which pertains to the systems that enable this care.
Other meeting highlights included the presentation of awards. Paul Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., received the Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research. Part of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Dr. Shekelle has made significant contributions toward developing methods to assess quality of care, particularly in older adults, and five quality indicators he developed are part of VA's benchmarking sets. Joel Kupersmith, M.D., VA's Chief Research and Development Officer, presented the prestigious award to Dr. Shekelle. Seth Eisen, M.D., M.Sc., Director of HSR&D, presented the Post-Doctoral Poster Award to Lauren Broyles, Ph.D., R.N., part of HSR&D's Center for Health Equity Research & Promotion, for her study on "Anticipated Barriers and Facilitators Associated with Nurse-Delivered Alcohol SBIRT for Hospitalized Veterans."
In addition, Dr. Eisen addressed meeting participants about HSR&D's current priorities, which include: engaging VHA partners in health services research; aligning investigators with the needs of VA; increasing research synergy and reducing scientific overlap; speeding implementation of research findings; and maintaining investigator-initiated research. Dr. Eisen also spoke about organizational changes to HSR&D's centers, programs, and funding that are currently in planning. More details about this will be forthcoming.
