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VA Health Systems Research

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COIN: Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR) Bedford, MA and Boston, MA

Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research

Directors: Barbara Bokhour, PhD (Bedford) and Allen Gifford, MD (Boston)

Website: http://www.choir.research.va.gov/

About the COIN

CHOIR's mission is to advance coordinated, patient-centered health care for all Veterans through research and quality improvement.

Research Focus Areas

The Center’s work focuses on:

  1. Patient Centered Care
  2. Care Coordination
  3. Other Research Areas

Patient-Centered Care

Patient-Centered Care (PCC) means providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions. PCC means including patient context, for example social determinants of health, thinking about patients' health and well-being broadly (beyond typical clinical outcomes), and focusing on patients in their daily lives.

Care Coordination

In VA, Care Coordination defined as facilitating integration of, and navigation through, health care services, within and across care settings, to help patients receive the care they need and want without unnecessary duplication of services or avoidable inconvenience. Care coordination ideally is patient-centered, but research may focus on other aspects such as patient safety, duplication of services, health care costs, etc.

Other Research Areas

CHOIR conducts health services research across a wide range of topics concentrated around our focal areas with additional projects which cut across our other research areas: optimizing medication prescribing and management, organization and implementation, VHA Innovators Network (iNET), long-term care, patient safety and recovery in behaviorally vulnerable populations.

Partner Offices

Each COIN works closely with operational partners throughout the VA healthcare system. CHOIR's partners include:

  • National Center for Ethics in Health Care
  • National Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
  • National Center for Organization Development
  • National Center for Patient Safety
  • National Center on Homelessness among Veterans
  • Office of Community Care
  • Office of Connected Care
  • Office of Dentistry
  • Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization
  • Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care Operations
  • Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
  • Office of Nursing Services
  • Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation/Whole Health Initiative
  • Office of Primary Care
  • Office of Rural Health
  • Office of Specialty Care Services
  • Office of Veterans Access to Care
  • Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
  • VA Bedford Healthcare System
  • VA Boston Healthcare System
  • VA New England Healthcare System, VISN 1

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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.