Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government
Veterans Benefits and Health Care About VA Find a VA Location

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website
FORUM - Translating research into quality health care for Veterans


In This Issue

Director's Letter

Director's Letter
by David Atkins, MD, MPH, Director, HSR&D

A key marker of a high-performing system is consistent and reliable performance. By this measure, both VA and the U.S. health care system have a long way to go. For a national system like VA, with 168 facilities and thousands of outpatient clinics, achieving more rapid spread of best practices and new innovations is a serious challenge. Despite data confirming that average VA performance is generally good relative to our peers, it isn't consistently good everywhere in VA...

Commentary

Implementation Science: Moving from Theory to Sustainability
By Amy Kilbourne, PhD, MPH, Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI), VA Central Office

The field of implementation science has grown exponentially in the past decade, but the "Holy Grail" of reducing the time from a research finding to adoption in routine care remains elusive. While researchers have offered dozens of implementation models, theories, and frameworks, few outline specific pathways or strategies for accelerating the movement of research from the academic shelf into the hands of patients and practitioners...

Response to Commentary

Aligning Forces for Implementation
By Laura Petersen, MD, MPH, HSR&D Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Houston, Texas

Implementing evidence into care for patients and then sustaining that implementation is arguably our biggest challenge in health services research. Much of VA's implementation science has been led and conceptualized by VA HSR&D and QUERI investigators. Our embedded intramural research program ensures that we as researchers address topics that are of importance to the care of Veterans and to our VA health care delivery system...

Research Highlights

Facilitation: A Key Strategy in the Field of Implementation Science
By Mona J. Ritchie, PhD, and JoAnn E. Kirchner, MD, both with HSR&D's Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research and QUERI for Team-Based Behavioral Health, North Little Rock, Arkansas

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been a forerunner in the development, promotion, and implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) through innovative research initiatives, guidelines, quality improvement efforts, and programs designed to advance implementation science...


Enhancing PACT Implementation through Qualitative Research
By Michelle Lampman, PhD, Samantha L. Solimeo, PhD, and Greg L. Stewart, PhD, all with VISN 23 PACT Demonstration Laboratory, and HSR&D's Center for Comprehensive Access and Delivery Research and Evaluation, Iowa City, Iowa; and Susan Stockdale, PhD, HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation, and Policy, Los Angeles, California

Since 2010, VHA has been implementing the Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) model as the standard of care for delivering primary care services. Implementation of the underlying patient-centered medical home model requires fundamental change in the organization of care, with the primary work unit moving from individual providers to interdisciplinary teams...


Measuring to Improve Care for Veterans with Cerebrovascular Events
By Dawn M. Bravata, MD, HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication, Indianapolis, Indiana

The story of ongoing improvement of acute ischemic stroke care for Veterans over the last decade is one where many projects and strategic partnerships come together to play pivotal roles. These pieces include VHA performance measurement, electronic health record data...


Strategies to Increase Hepatitis C Treatment Starts
By Rachel Gonzalez, MPH, National Hepatitis C Resource Center, VA Long Beach Healthcare System, Long Beach, California; Angela Park, PharmD, CACP, New England Veterans Engineering Resource Center, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts; Vera Yakovchenko, MPH, HSR&D Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Hospital, Bedford, Massachusetts; and Shari Rogal, MD, MPH, HSR&D Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer in both the U.S and Veterans Health Administration (VHA). A new generation of treatment regimens (Direct Acting Agents) has increased rates of sustained viral response (SVR) with fewer side effects than previous treatments...




Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.