Research News

HSR&D Investigators Represent at AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting

June 6, 2019

VA’s Health Services Research & Development Service (HSR&D) was well-represented at the AcademyHealth (AH) 2019 Annual Research Meeting, which was held June 2-4 in Washington, DC. AcademyHealth is the leading professional organization for health services researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners, and is a non-partisan informational resource for health services research and policy.

During this year’s AH meeting, there were several VA Sessions:

• “Are You Out-of-The-Box, Out-of-This-World, or Out-of-Your-Mind? Defining and Funding Innovation in Health Services Research” highlighted HSR&D’s new Innovation Initiative (I2) Program. This Program supports research that addresses national VA priorities and investigators that think outside the box and try big, bold innovations. The session was chaired by David Atkins, MD, MPH, Director of HSR&D; speakers included Jolie Haun, PhD, MS, Center of Innovation on Disability & Rehab Research-GNV; Jerry S.H. Lee, PhD, University of Southern California; and Penny Mohr, MA, Patient-Centered outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).


• “Evaluating VA Delivery System Changes with the Expansion for Community-Based Care: Implications for a Large Learning Healthcare System” highlighted the legislative mandates, evaluation plans, and preliminary analyses from projects that assess VA healthcare as it expands to community provider networks across the country. The Session Chair was Denise Hynes, PhD, MPH, RN, VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, and the Discussant was Kristin Cunningham, PMP, Executive Officer to the VA Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Community Care; speakers included Dr. Hynes; and Kristin Mattocks, PhD, MPH, VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System; Amy Rosen, PhD, CHOIR; and Megan Vanneman, PhD, MPH, HSR&D’s Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences (IDEAS) Center.


• “Implementation Science as a Catalyst for Transforming Health Systems to Learning Organizations: Beyond Big Data” focused on how the application of implementation science principles at multiple levels can be used to help move health systems toward being learning organizations. Chaired by Laura Damschroder, MS, MPH, HSR&D’s Center for Clinical Management Research (CCMR), speakers included Sarah Cutrona, MD, MPH, HSR&D’s Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR); Blake Henderson, VA Diffusion of Excellence; George Jackson, PhD, Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT); and Lucy Savitz, PhD, MBA, Kaiser Permanente Northwest.

VA leadership also held a session on the continuing growth of HSR&D and QUERI (Quality Improvement Research Initiative) research as it expands to focus on the goals of VA’s MISSION Act. Beginning June 6, 2019, the Mission Act will enhance access to healthcare for Veterans even further by including more care options both inside and outside the VA network. Another VA session focused on “Health Equity and Social Determinants” of healthcare, which also may affect access to care. Numerous HSR&D investigators participated in other sessions and presented posters on topics that included the management of chronic pain, opioid use disorder, breast cancer, food insecurity, homelessness, depression and PTSD, and collaborative care, and antimicrobial prophylaxis, to name a few.

Last but not least, HSR&D congratulates Claire O’Hanlon, PhD, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, who is one of four new AcademyHealth Delivery System Science Fellows. Dr. O’Hanlon’s research interests include aging, long-term care, end-of-life care, healthcare markets and consolidation, as well as emerging health technologies. In addition, VA HSR&D investigators were among those awarded Best Abstract, including:

• Laura Damschroder, MPH, MS; Jane Forman, ScD, MHS; and Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, HSR&D’s Center for Clinical Management Research (CCMR), and colleagues for “Implementation of Post-Partum Contraceptive Care: Determinants, Implementation Strategies, and Workflow Processes in a Multiple Case Study of 11 US Hospitals;”


• Orna Intrator, PhD, Canandaigua VA Medical Center, and colleagues for “Continuity of Care and Health Care Cost among Community-Dwelling Older Adult Veterans Living with Dementia;” and


• Edward Miech, EdD, Precision Monitoring to Transform Care (PRIS-M) QUERI, and colleagues for Necessary but Not Sufficient: A Multi-method Study of the Role of Champions in Health Care-Related Implementation.”

VA HSR&D investigators also were among those awarded Best Poster, including:

• Hayden Bosworth, PhD, and Heather King, PhD, HSR&D’s Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT), and colleagues for “Patients’ Experiences with Staphylococcus Aureus and Gram-Negative Rod Bloodstream Infections: A Qualitative Study to Inform Development of a Quality of Life Measure;”


• Christian Helfrich, PhD, MPH; Charles Maynard, PhD; Meg Plomondon, PhD; and Stephen Waldo, MD, HSR&D’s Center for Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Drive Care, and colleagues for “Diffusion of Access Site Preference among Cardiac Catheterization Operators;” and


• Kevin Stroupe, PhD; Bridget Smith, PhD; and Frances Weaver, PhD, HSR&D’s Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare (CINCCH); Timothy Hogan, PhD, HSR&D’s Health Economics Resource Center (HERC); Denise Hynes, PhD, MPH, VA Portland Healthcare System, and colleagues, for “Veterans’ Experiences with the Veterans’ Choice Program.”

Eve Kerr, MD, MPH, Director of HSR&D’s Center for Clinical Management Research, chaired the planning committee for this year’s AcademyHealth annual meeting.