2023 HSR&D/QUERI National Conference

3001 — Opportunities to Advance Virtual Care Access, Engagement, and Outcomes: VA Virtual Care CORE Discussion about Research Priorities and Data Sources

Lead/Presenter: Donna Zulman,  COIN - Palo Alto
All Authors: Zulman DM, VA Palo Alto Healthcare System; Hogan T, VA Bedford Healthcare System; Sherman S, VA New York Harbor Healthcare System;

Workshop Objectives:
VA’s Virtual Care Consortium of Research (VC CORE) is an HSRD-funded partnership with VA’s Office of Connected Care that aims to facilitate research to enhance the accessibility, capacity, and quality of VA health care and the Veteran experience. In May 2022, the VC CORE held a State-of-the-Art conference (SOTA) to convene VA researchers, representatives from program offices, Veterans, and HSRD leadership to identify research priorities in the areas of virtual care access, Veteran engagement, and outcomes. This workshop will (1) present the priorities that emerged from the SOTA; and (2) offer an opportunity to discuss existing and emerging data sources and measures related to those priorities that are also central to VA virtual care research more broadly.

Activities:
The workshop will begin with a presentation about the themes and research priorities that emerged from the Virtual Care SOTA. The presentation will focus on SOTA workgroup consensus statements, which described opportunities to: 1) address virtual care access disparities in VA, 2) enhance Veteran engagement with virtual care technologies, and 3) define and improve outcomes influenced by virtual care. Top research priorities highlighted the need to identify implementation strategies that increase patient and clinician adoption of effective virtual care technologies, ascertain the “right” portfolio of virtual care for patients with complex medical and/or social needs, understand how virtual care can support Veterans throughout their VA health care journey, and optimize the value of patient-generated health data integration into clinical care and the electronic health record. Following the presentation, attendees will break into five groups to discuss data sources and measures that will advance the research priorities established during the Virtual Care SOTA. Each group will be facilitated by members of the Virtual Care CORE team with relevant expertise regarding currently available and planned data sources that will be of interest to the HSRD community, and workgroup attendees will have the option to join the discussion group of most interest to them. Groups will focus on: 1) emerging sources of VA patient-generated health data, 2) survey measures of Veteran experience with virtual care (e.g., VSignals, validated patient-reported measures), 3) Corporate Data Warehouse measures of virtual care utilization (including VA Video Connect, Clinical Video Telehealth, My HealtheVet, receipt and use of VA-issued tablets), 4) national and community-level data sources (e.g., FCC and Microsoft measures of neighborhood-level internet capability), and 5) virtual care outcomes that can be studied across populations and modalities. Through the workshop presentations and discussions, attendees will gain familiarity with research priorities endorsed by HSRD and VA Office of Connected Care leadership and will learn about data sources and measures that can advance their research in VA virtual care.

Target Audience:
Researchers, operations leaders, and Veterans engaged in virtual care implementation and evaluation

Assumed Audience Familiarity with Topic:
All are welcome