Research Impacts

Research Impacts

Following are examples of HSR&D 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.

NEW! A 2022 summary of HSR&D research impacts - Impacts Roundup

Turning Evidence into Practice: The Journey from Investigation to Impacts
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Topic	Impact	Posting Date
	Telehealth delivery of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention	(03-13-2023)
Quality Improvement	Primary Care Equity Dashboard	(02-06-2023)
Suicide	Education Program for Primary Care Teams on Discussing Firearms Storage Safety with Veterans	(01-31-2023)
Quality Improvement	Relational Playbook for Cardiology Teams Contributes to VHA's Push toward Becoming a High Reliability Organization	(12-12-2022)
Pain	Program to Increase Veterans’ Access to Non-Drug Therapy for Pain Receives Approval for Expansion	(09-29-2022)
COVID-19	Research on COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Safety in Veterans	(08-10-2022)
Quality Improvement	The Surgical Pause Practice is Saving Veterans’ Lives	(09-22-2021)
Patient Safety	Promoting the Safe Use of Electronic Health Records	(08-24-2021)
Quality Improvement	Consistent Oral Care Shows Potential in Decreasing Risk of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia	(07-12-2021)
Chronic Disease	Improving the Safe Use of Direct Oral Anticoagulants for Veterans	(06-30-2021)
Cancer	Diffusion of Excellence Shark Tank Winner Impacts Lung Screening Guidelines	(06-22-2021)
Quality Improvement	Partnered Evaluation Advances Whole Health System of Care across VA	(06-09-2021)
Women Veterans	Study Leads to New Cost-Effective Benefits for Women Veterans Taking Oral Contraceptives	(06-07-2021)
Quality Improvement	HSR&D Research Provides Foundation for National Center to Improve Nursing Home Care	(04-14-2021)
Access	Referral Coordination Teams Improve Timeliness of Specialty Care Delivery, Patient Experience, and Quality of Care	(03-05-2021)
COVID-19	Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury and Disorder at Increased Risk of Death from COVID-19	(03-05-2021)
Women Veterans	Gender-tailored Practices Enhance Diabetes, Cardiovascular, and Mental Healthcare for Women Veterans	(02-01-2021)
Women Veterans	Congressional Committee Hears HSR&D Investigator’s Testimony on Women Veterans’ Mental Health and Harassment Research	(02-01-2021)
Suicide	Veterans at Higher Risk of Overdose/Suicide Death after Stopping Opioid Treatment	(02-01-2021)
Suicide	The Role of Pandemic-Related Social Distancing in Suicide Risk Receives National Media Attention	(02-01-2021)
Quality Improvement	VA Fulfilled Veterans’ Timely Care Requests 86% of the Time and New Measure Offers Further improvements	(01-29-2021)
Chronic Disease	VA Telehealth Program Improves Control of Type 2 Diabetes, Even in Treatment Resistant Cases	(01-29-2021)
COVID-19	HSR&D Investigator’s Model for Equal COVID Treatment Widely Disseminated	(01-29-2021)
COVID-19	HSR&D Investigator Leads AMA’s Most Viewed Discussion: Telemedicine Amid COVID-19	(01-29-2021)
Opioids	Opioid Agonist Therapy Needed for Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder During Hospital	(01-29-2021)
Opioids	Training Initiative Increases Medication-assisted Treatment for Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder	(01-29-2021)
Rural Veterans	Study Supports Increased Distribution of Video Tablets and Telehealth for Rural Veterans	(01-29-2021)
Suicide	Firearm Safety Training Materials Enhance VA Suicide Prevention Discussions	(01-29-2021)
COVID-19	COVID Mortality Variation in VA Due to Patient, Not Facility, Characteristics	(01-29-2021)
COVID-19	Revising Temperature Threshold Detects More COVID	(01-28-2021)
Chronic Disease	VA Telehealth Program Improves Control of Type 2 Diabetes, Even in Treatment Resistant Cases	(01-28-2021)
Aging Veterans	Older Age is Strongest Risk Factor for Ventilation and Death among Veterans with COVID-19	(01-28-2021)
Chronic Disease	Hypertension and Diabetes Drugs Not Associated with Severe COVID-19 Illness or Susceptibility	(01-28-2021)
Care Coordination	Tools Used to Improve Care Coordination for High-Risk Veterans across Multiple Settings	(01-28-2021)
Cancer	VA Patients Have Fewer Avoidable Hospitalizations Post-Chemotherapy than Medicare Patients	(01-28-2021)
Care Coordination	HSR&D Investigator Informs National Roadmap for Tailored Approach to Colorectal Cancer Screening	(01-28-2021)
Mental Health	Positive Effect of Collaborative Chronic Care Model on VA Mental Health	(04-22-2020)
Suicide	Social Stressors Strongly Associated with Suicide Ideation and Attempt among Veterans	(04-03-2020)
Homelessness	Patient-Aligned Care Teams Tailored to Homeless Can Reduce Acute Care Services and Healthcare Costs	(04-03-2020)
Access	HSR&D Helps Increase Access to Virtual Care for Veterans	(04-03-2020)
Quality	Quality Enhancement Research Initiative continues to improve Veterans’ care	(04-03-2020)
Cancer	Timely Palliative Care Associated with Survival for VA Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer	(04-02-2020)
Women’s Health	Stranger Harassment of Women Veterans Affects Their Healthcare	(04-02-2020)
Hepatitis C	VA researchers Assess Strategies to Implement Best Practices for Treating Hepatitis C	(04-02-2020)
Surgery	Preoperative Surgical Screening for Asymptomatic Bacteriuria Not Beneficial	(04-02-2020)
Pain	Veterans help create widely distributed pamphlet on improving pain management	(04-02-2020)
Surgery	Risk of Adverse Events Increases with Each Additional Day of Prophylactic Antimicrobial Exposure following Surgery.	(04-01-2020)
Post-deployment	VA researchers help Veterans and caregivers reflect on and describe impact of invisible injuries related to military service on themselves and their families	(04-01-2020)
Stroke	Six Readily Available Processes of Care Can Decrease Mortality for Individuals with TIA or Non-Severe Stroke.	(04-01-2020)
Suicide	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.	(04-01-2020)
COPD	VA Researchers Improve VA Providers’ Lack of Awareness about Risk in Prescribing Inhaled Corticosteroids for COPD.	(04-01-2020)
Women’s Health	Substantial savings for VA found with 12-month dispensing of contraceptive pills, while also reducing unintended pregnancies	(03-27-2020)
Dual Healthcare Use	Veterans receiving prescriptions both inside and outside VA at increased risk of adverse drug events	(03-27-2020)
Suicide/opioids	VA researchers develop conceptual framework to understand risk for both suicide and overdose together	(03-27-2020)
Surgery	Even minor operations are high-risk for frail patients.	(03-27-2020)
Preventive Care	VA researchers identify barriers to adopting catheter-related infection practices.	(10-23-2018)
Patient Safety	VA researchers work to reduce missed and delayed diagnoses through better communication.	(10-11-2018)
Innovation	HSR&D Finalists Achieve VA Shark Tank Gold Status	(09-26-2018)
Quality Improvement	Reporting surgical outcomes leads to decreases in post-operative mortality and morbidity.	(09-07-2018)
Chronic Diseases	Cardiac tracking system improves patient safety through enhanced communication and provider understanding of reportable events.	(09-07-2018)
Hospital Acquired Infections	VA Research Combats Multi-drug Resistant Organisms Posing Public Health Threat	(09-07-2018)
Mental Health	Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Improves Care for Veterans with Mental Illness	(09-07-2018)
Opioids	VA researchers work to improve opioid safety	(09-07-2018)
Opioids	VA researchers work to prevent suicide and risky opioid use	(12-20-2017)
Quality Improvement	Lung Cancer Care Toolkit helps VA medical centers support clinical decision-making and provide improved delivery of lung cancer care.	(07-29-2014)
End-of-Life Care	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.	(02-04-2014)
Infectious Diseases	VA research improves flu and pneumonia vaccination among Veterans	(02-04-2014)
Women's Health	VA research improves healthcare for women Veterans	(02-04-2014)

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Research Impacts

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