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FORUM - Translating research into quality health care for Veterans


In This Issue

Director's Letter

Director's Letter
by Seth A. Eisen, M.D., M.Sc.

Given the national focus and debate about health care reform, it seems very timely that this issue of FORUM focuses on the topic of change. As both Drs. Francis and Atkins note in the opening Commentary and Response articles, VA has made tremendous progress in organizing to improve health care for Veterans, but many challenges remain. Specifically, how do we best implement changes that will improve the VA health care system now and for the future...

Commentary

Change in Health Care
by Joseph Francis, M.D., M.P.H., Acting Chief Quality and Performance Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs

The national consensus for change in health care comes from increasing awareness of inadequate access, variable quality, high costs, and mediocre outcomes, as well as the realization that economic stability requires we address these shortcomings. While VA may have demonstrated superior performance in access, quality, and outcomes, we are not exempt from this imperative...

Response to Commentary

Transformation and QUERI
by David Atkins, M.D., M.P.H., QUERI Director, Office of Research and Development

Systems Redesign and QUERI offer complementary approaches for how to speed change in the health care system...

Research Highlights

The Challenges of Achieving Sustained System Change
by Martin P. Charns, D.B.A., and Carol VanDeusen Lukas, Ed.D., Center for Organization, Leadership, & Management Research, VA Boston Healthcare System

From our research in both VA and non-VA health care organizations, we have identified five critical drivers of change that distinguish organizations that have reached sustained system change...


Nursing Home Culture Change
by Christine W. Hartmann, Ph.D., Dan Berlowitz, M.D., HSR&D Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research, Bedford, Massachusetts

Long seen as places one would avoid living in if one had a choice, in the past decade nursing homes (NHs) have increasingly adopted more resident-centered care paradigms, under a rubric generally termed "culture change"...

HSR&D Investigators Honored

HSR&D Investigators Honored at AcademyHealth 2009 Annual Research Meeting

VA researchers had a strong presence at AcademyHealth's Annual Research Meeting in June 2009. A number of VA researchers--whose submissions were competitively reviewed--presented papers, workshops, and posters at the meeting. In addition, several VA HSR&D researchers were honored with awards.

Organizational Profile

VA HSR&D Establishes New Resource Center to Support Implementation Research and Practice
by Brian Mittman, Ph.D., Center for Implementation Practice and Research Support

VA's efforts to apply research to improve quality were strengthened in October 2008 with the establishment of a new QUERI resource center, the VA Center for Implementation Practice and Research Support (CIPRS). CIPRS pursues a two-part mission, aiming to strengthen implementation research and to strengthen implementation and quality improvement practice within VA...


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