Research Impacts

Following are examples of HSR research and collaborative efforts with clinical and operational partners that resulted in impacts which have made significant contributions to VA policy, practice, or directly on Veterans' health outcomes.

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View by Topic Pull down to select Access Aging Cancer Care Coordination Caregivers and Family Support Chronic Disease COPD COVID-19 Dual Healthcare Use End-of-Life Care Hepatitis C Homelessness Hospital Acquired Infections Implementation Infectious Diseases Innovation Mental Health Opioids Pain Patient Safety Post-deployment Preventive Care Quality Improvement Rural Health Stroke Suicide Surgery Telehealth Whole Health Women's Health

Posting Date	Impact	Topic
05-12-2026	Improving Reporting Reliability of Elder Abuse among Veterans	Aging
04-28-2026	Using Mindfulness to Decrease Chronic Pain	Pain
07-24-2025	Supporting Community Partnerships to Optimize Services for Homeless Veterans	Homelessness
07-14-2025	HSR Study on Cost Implications of Veterans’ VHA-Medicare Advantage Dual Enrollment Prompts Proposed Legislation	Dual Healthcare Use
07-01-2025	HSR’s VA Collaborative Evaluation Center Informs the Implementation of the National Referral Coordination Initiative	Implementation
04-29-2025	Enhancing Veterans’ Whole Health	Whole Health
04-03-2025	Caregivers FIRST: From HSR Partnered Research to National Spread	Caregivers and Family Support
04-02-2025	TelePain Increases Veterans’ Access to Nonpharmacological Care for Chronic Pain	Pain
03-25-2025	Social Workers Bridge Critical Care Gaps and Improve Health Outcomes for Rural Veterans	Rural Health
03-13-2025	The Moral Injury and Distress Scale (MIDS): First of its Kind	Mental Health
03-05-2025	Impact of Health Systems Research on Diagnostic Errors and Patient Safety	Patient Safety
03-05-2025	Telehealth Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) for Chronic Pain: Ready for Implementation	Pain
01-15-2025	Advanced Comprehensive Diabetes Care (ACDC) program	Chronic Disease
12-12-2024	VA TeleNeurology Program Helps Compensate for Shortage of Neurology Specialists	Telehealth
08-23-2024	Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia	Mental Health
02-06-2024	Post-Incarceration Engagement: Focusing on Homeless Veterans	Homelessness
08-03-2023	The Surgical Pause Practice Adopted as National Program	Quality Improvement
06-15-2023	VA Promotes High-Quality, Patient-centered Lung Cancer Screening for Veterans	Cancer
06-02-2023	HSR&D Adds to the Knowledge about Veterans’ Risk Related to Burn Pit Exposure	Post-Deployment
05-30-2023	The Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program: Reaching More Veterans with Depression	Mental Health
05-26-2023	The VA Endoscopy Quality Improvement Program: Largest Colonoscopy Quality Assurance Program in the U.S.	Cancer
05-15-2023	Program to Increase Veterans’ Access to Non-Drug Therapy for Pain Receives Approval for Expansion	Pain
04-07-2023	End of Life Treatments: Preferences Elicited and Respected for Seriously Ill Veterans through Enhanced Decision-Making (PERSIVED)	End-of-Life Care
04-07-2023	COVID-19 Observational Research Collaboratory	COVID-19
03-13-2023	Telehealth delivery of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention	Suicide
01-31-2023	Education Program for Primary Care Teams on Discussing Firearms Storage Safety with Veterans	Suicide
12-12-2022	Relational Playbook for Cardiology Teams Contributes to VHA's Push toward Becoming a High Reliability Organization	Quality Improvement
08-10-2022	Research on COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Safety in Veterans	COVID-19
09-22-2021	The Surgical Pause Practice is Saving Veterans’ Lives	Quality Improvement
08-24-2021	Promoting the Safe Use of Electronic Health Records	Patient Safety
07-12-2021	Consistent Oral Care Shows Potential in Decreasing Risk of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia	Quality Improvement
06-30-2021	Improving the Safe Use of Direct Oral Anticoagulants for Veterans	Chronic Disease
06-22-2021	Diffusion of Excellence Shark Tank Winner Impacts Lung Screening Guidelines	Cancer
06-09-2021	Partnered Evaluation Advances Whole Health System of Care across VA	Quality Improvement
06-07-2021	Study Leads to New Cost-Effective Benefits for Women Veterans Taking Oral Contraceptives	Women's Health
04-14-2021	HSR&D Research Provides Foundation for National Center to Improve Nursing Home Care	Quality Improvement
03-05-2021	Referral Coordination Teams Improve Timeliness of Specialty Care Delivery, Patient Experience, and Quality of Care	Access
03-05-2021	Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury and Disorder at Increased Risk of Death from COVID-19	COVID-19
02-01-2021	Gender-tailored Practices Enhance Diabetes, Cardiovascular, and Mental Healthcare for Women Veterans	Women's Health
02-01-2021	Congressional Committee Hears HSR&D Investigator’s Testimony on Women Veterans’ Mental Health and Harassment Research	Women's Health
02-01-2021	Veterans at Higher Risk of Overdose/Suicide Death after Stopping Opioid Treatment	Suicide
02-01-2021	The Role of Pandemic-Related Social Distancing in Suicide Risk Receives National Media Attention	Suicide
01-29-2021	VA Fulfilled Veterans’ Timely Care Requests 86% of the Time and New Measure Offers Further improvements	Quality Improvement
01-29-2021	VA Telehealth Program Improves Control of Type 2 Diabetes, Even in Treatment Resistant Cases	Chronic Disease
01-29-2021	HSR&D Investigator’s Model for Equal COVID Treatment Widely Disseminated	COVID-19
01-29-2021	HSR&D Investigator Leads AMA’s Most Viewed Discussion: Telemedicine Amid COVID-19	COVID-19
01-29-2021	Opioid Agonist Therapy Needed for Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder During Hospital	Opioids
01-29-2021	Training Initiative Increases Medication-assisted Treatment for Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder	Opioids
01-29-2021	Study Supports Increased Distribution of Video Tablets and Telehealth for Rural Veterans	Rural Health
01-29-2021	Firearm Safety Training Materials Enhance VA Suicide Prevention Discussions	Suicide
01-29-2021	COVID Mortality Variation in VA Due to Patient, Not Facility, Characteristics	COVID-19
01-28-2021	Revising Temperature Threshold Detects More COVID	COVID-19
01-28-2021	Older Age is Strongest Risk Factor for Ventilation and Death among Veterans with COVID-19	Aging
01-28-2021	Hypertension and Diabetes Drugs Not Associated with Severe COVID-19 Illness or Susceptibility	Chronic Disease
01-28-2021	Tools Used to Improve Care Coordination for High-Risk Veterans across Multiple Settings	Care Coordination
01-28-2021	VA Patients Have Fewer Avoidable Hospitalizations Post-Chemotherapy than Medicare Patients	Cancer
01-28-2021	HSR&D Investigator Informs National Roadmap for Tailored Approach to Colorectal Cancer Screening	Care Coordination
04-22-2020	Positive Effect of Collaborative Chronic Care Model on VA Mental Health	Mental Health
04-03-2020	Social Stressors Strongly Associated with Suicide Ideation and Attempt among Veterans	Suicide
04-03-2020	Patient-Aligned Care Teams Tailored to Homeless Can Reduce Acute Care Services and Healthcare Costs	Homelessness
04-03-2020	HSR&D Helps Increase Access to Virtual Care for Veterans	Access
04-03-2020	Quality Enhancement Research Initiative continues to improve Veterans’ care	Quality Improvement
04-02-2020	Timely Palliative Care Associated with Survival for VA Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer	Cancer
04-02-2020	Stranger Harassment of Women Veterans Affects Their Healthcare	Women's Health
04-02-2020	VA researchers Assess Strategies to Implement Best Practices for Treating Hepatitis C	Hepatitis C
04-02-2020	Preoperative Surgical Screening for Asymptomatic Bacteriuria Not Beneficial	Surgery
04-02-2020	Veterans help create widely distributed pamphlet on improving pain management	Pain
04-01-2020	Risk of Adverse Events Increases with Each Additional Day of Prophylactic Antimicrobial Exposure following Surgery.	Surgery
04-01-2020	VA researchers help Veterans and caregivers reflect on and describe impact of invisible injuries related to military service on themselves and their families	Post-deployment
04-01-2020	Six Readily Available Processes of Care Can Decrease Mortality for Individuals with TIA or Non-Severe Stroke.	Stroke
04-01-2020	Exposure to brief evidence-based psychotherapy intervention in primary care may significantly reduce distress and suicidal ideation among Veterans with chronic illness, with effects enduring over long time period.	Suicide
04-01-2020	VA Researchers Improve VA Providers’ Lack of Awareness about Risk in Prescribing Inhaled Corticosteroids for COPD.	COPD
03-27-2020	Substantial savings for VA found with 12-month dispensing of contraceptive pills, while also reducing unintended pregnancies	Women's Health
03-27-2020	Veterans receiving prescriptions both inside and outside VA at increased risk of adverse drug events	Dual Healthcare Use
03-27-2020	VA researchers develop conceptual framework to understand risk for both suicide and overdose together	Suicide
03-27-2020	Even minor operations are high-risk for frail patients.	Surgery
10-23-2018	VA researchers identify barriers to adopting catheter-related infection practices.	Preventive Care
10-11-2018	VA researchers work to reduce missed and delayed diagnoses through better communication.	Patient Safety
09-26-2018	HSR&D Finalists Achieve VA Shark Tank Gold Status	Innovation
09-07-2018	Reporting surgical outcomes leads to decreases in post-operative mortality and morbidity.	Quality Improvement
09-07-2018	Cardiac tracking system improves patient safety through enhanced communication and provider understanding of reportable events.	Chronic Disease
09-07-2018	VA Research Combats Multi-drug Resistant Organisms Posing Public Health Threat	Hospital Acquired Infections
09-07-2018	Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Improves Care for Veterans with Mental Illness	Mental Health
09-07-2018	VA researchers work to improve opioid safety	Opioids
12-20-2017	VA researchers work to prevent suicide and risky opioid use	Opioids
07-29-2014	Lung Cancer Care Toolkit helps VA medical centers support clinical decision-making and provide improved delivery of lung cancer care.	Quality Improvement
02-04-2014	VA researchers improve measurement of quality of end of life care, helping to increase numbers of Veterans who died as inpatients and received a palliative care consult in their last year of life.	End-of-Life Care
02-04-2014	VA research improves flu and pneumonia vaccination among Veterans	Infectious Diseases
02-04-2014	VA research improves healthcare for women Veterans	Women's Health

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