HSR&D Impacts
The HSR&D mission is to advance knowledge and promote innovations that improve the health and care of Veterans and the nation. These impacts represent a selection of HSR&D research studies that have either already impacted VA healthcare or that have the potential to do so in the near future. The studies address research areas such as: access to care, complex chronic conditions, long-term care, mental health, substance use disorders, women's health, and healthcare issues related to deployment.
Advancing Quality and Care for Women Veterans
A body of HSR&D research indicates that resources needed to care for women Veterans differ from those needed to care for male Veterans and has contributed to the re-organization of care for women Veterans. HSR&D's evaluation of the impact of VA practice structures and primary care delivery on the quality of care for women Veterans has played a key role in the Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group's development of a national plan for comprehensive practice redesign of primary care delivery for women.
Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES)
VA/HSR&D's Mental Health Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) group developed the Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) model for collaborative depression management in the primary care setting. Implementation of the model in three VISNs showed 70% recovery of depression after six months among Veterans in primary care. TIDES is now part of VA's Mental Health Primary Care Integration Initiative, which aims to implement improved mental health care models in all VISNs.
Improving End-of-Life Care
Several HSR&D research projects have worked to improve end-of-life care for Veterans. The Veterans Hospice Care Study served as the focal point for efforts to improve end-of-life care throughout the VA healthcare system in the late '90s by describing Veteran and family satisfaction with care and identifying barriers to obtaining care. Currently, the PROMISE (Performance Reporting and Outcomes Measurement to Improve the Standard of care at End-of-Life) project is an integral part of VA's Comprehensive End-of-Life Care Initiative, a new, large-scale effort to increase access to high-quality hospice and palliative care services among Veterans.