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VA's Health Services Research & Development Service (HSR&D) was well-represented at the 2014 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, which was held in San Diego, June 8-10. VA sessions included topics such as:
HSR&D investigators also contributed posters and podium presentations on an array of issues important to healthcare for Veterans, such as hospital acquired infections, women's health, patient-centered care, and healthcare financing and economics. Further, several HSR&D investigators were the recipients of special awards.
George Shelton, M.D., M.P.P. Dr. Shelton is a Health Services Research Fellow with the HSR&D Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt), and an internal medicine physician with the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. His primary research interests include implementation science, quality scholarship, and health disparities.
AcademyHealth Diversity Scholarships support the professional development of under-represented racial/ethnic minority groups in the field of health services research and provide funds for the opportunity to attend the Annual Research Meeting.
Megan Vanneman, Ph.D. Dr. Vanneman is a joint postdoctoral fellow in health services research at the HSR&D Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i) at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and at the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford University. She completed her Ph.D. in health services and policy analysis at the University of California at Berkeley, and received her M.P.H. in health policy and management at Columbia University. Her dissertation focused on policy effectiveness and system-level equity after the realignment of California's public mental health system. She is currently working on three projects concerning dual users of VA health care and Medicaid, performance measurement, and linkage to VA health care after separation.
Sonya Gabrielian, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Gabrielian is an investigator with the HSR&D Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation and Policy (CSHIIP) and a psychiatrist at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. She received her M.D. from the UC San Diego School of Medicine and her M.P.H. in health services from the UCLA School of Public Health. Her research focuses on implementation approaches to improve care for individuals who have experienced homelessness.
The AcademyHealth Presidential Scholarship for New Health Services Researchers provides early career researchers with financial support to attend the Annual Research Meeting, and the opportunity to advise AcademyHealth about how to better meet the needs of new health services researchers and junior faculty.
VA HSR&D's Rachel Werner, M.D., Ph.D., a 2009 recipient of AcademyHealth's Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award, was a co-author of the Article of the Year. The article, Shipping Out Instead of Shaping Up: Rehospitalization from Nursing Homes as an Unintended Effect of Public Reporting by R. Tamara Konetzka, Daniel Polsky, and Dr. Werner, looked at public reporting of health care quality as a popular tool for incenting quality improvement. It was published in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Health Economics.
The AcademyHealth Article of the Year award recognizes the best scientific work that the fields of health services research and health policy have produced and published in 2013.
Several HSR&D investigators were recognized as lead or co-authors of abstracts selected as the most outstanding research submitted for presentation within the Call for Papers themes.
Complex Chronic Conditions
Randomized Trial in Community Practices of Diabetes and Hypertension Nurse Behavior Management
Lead author:
David Edelman, M.D
., HSR&D Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care
Co-authors: Cynthia Coffman, Ph.D., Jennifer Lindquist, M.S., Hayden Bosworth, Ph.D.
Consumer Choice and Behavioral Economics
Comparative Acceptance, Efficacy, and Effectiveness of Health Incentive Structures for Smoking Cessation
Co-author:
Kevin Volpp, M.D., Ph.D
., HSR&D Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion
Health Information Technology
Is Use of a Patient Portal Good for Your Diabetes?
Lead author: Stephanie Shimada, Ph.D.,
HSR&D Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research
Co-authors: Hua Feng, M.S., Amy Rosen, Ph.D., Thomas Houston, M.D., M.P.H.
Improving Safety, Quality, and Value
Failing to Choose Wisely: Lack of Treatment De-intensification in Older Patients with Diabetes
Lead author: Jeremy Sussman, M.D., M.Sc.,
HSR&D Center for Clinical Management Research
Co-authors: Eve Kerr, M.D., M.P.H., Rob Holleman, M.P.H., Mandi Klamerus, M.P.H., Sameer Saini, M.D., M.S., Lillian Min, M.D., M.S.H.S., Sandeep Vijan,
M.D., M.S., Timothy Hofer, M.D., M.Sc.
Maternal and Child Health
The Association between Obstetric Quality Indicators and Severe Maternal Morbidity among New York City Hospitals
Co-author: Paul Hebert, Ph.D.
, HSR&D Center for Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care
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. Recognition of VA research across multiple areas at this high-profile meeting reflects positively on VA's research mission, and is of importance in disseminating valuable lessons learned via research conducted within the nation's largest integrated healthcare system.
