Research News

Long COVID Practice Based Research Network!

February 8, 2024

Four years after the first case of COVID in the U.S., scientists are still determining its long-term effects on people’s health and wellbeing. Long COVID has been referred to as the ‘greatest mass disabling event in history.’ In 2022, 7% of U.S. adults ever had long COVID, and 3% currently had Long COVID (NCHS Data Brief, 2023). VA has supported multiple efforts to address access to and delivery of Long COVID care, recognizing the urgent need to integrate evidence-based practice with implementation of standardized care for Veterans with Long COVID.

To help address this need, Drs. Allison Gustavson and R. Adams Dudley, core investigators with HSR’s Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research (CCDOR), Dr. Kristina Crothers, core investigator with HSR’s Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered & Value-Driven Care, Dr. Aaron Crothers (VA Puget Sound), and Dr. Norbert Brau (James J. Peters VA, Bronx) are leading a Long COVID Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) that will identify and support data-driven, practice-based, and stakeholder informed research. The Long COVID PBRN will be organized into five cores with specific goals and activities, including:

• The Administrative Core will formalize organizational structures to identify processes for decision-making, provide guidance on emerging issues in Long COVID and evaluate Long COVID PBRN efforts.
• The Partner Engagement & Needs Assessment Core will conduct Veteran Engagement Panels to ensure Veterans’ perspectives are considered when setting research priorities. This Core also will work to create a national network of Long COVID clinics, clinicians, and programs.
• The Patient Identification & Analysis Core will build and maintain a Long COVID registry and will develop analytic tools to support patient recruitment in future projects.
• The Clinical Coordination & Implementation Core will create a toolkit of best practices for identifying and recruiting Veterans for future pilot projects and will assist with data collection.
• The Dissemination Core will create a toolkit of dissemination strategies to disseminate Long COVID PBRN findings across the Long COVID ecosystem.

In addition, the Long COVID PBRN, which is funded by HSR, will convene and connect partners to centralize clinical, research, and operational activities. This will be a multi-site effort including Minneapolis VA Health Care, Minneapolis, MN; the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY; and Puget Sound VA Health Care in Seattle, WA.

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