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QUERI Represents at AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting

VA HSR&D and QUERI were both well-represented at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, held in-person from June 4 through June 7. Among the four days of conference programming, VA investigators delivered 39 abstract and podium presentations – and three focused panel presentations.

Among the panels was “How Implementation Science Can Move the Needle on Health System Quality,” which discussed the role of implementation science in moving the needle on quality of care in large health systems through the use of rigorous implementation and evaluation methods. This panel specifically addressed VA national healthcare priorities, including suicide prevention, pain/opioid use disorder treatments, and care coordination/access for marginalized populations. Sara Landes, PhD, principal investigator of Behavioral Health QUERI and the Caring Contacts QUERI-VISN Partnered Implementation Initiative, presented on the use of implementation facilitation to scale-up implementation of effective suicide prevention programs (e.g., Caring Contacts) in VA emergency departments and urgent care centers across the country. Amanda Midboe, PhD, a principal investigator for Bridge QUERI and CONDUIT QUERI, described the implementation of effective treatments for pain and opioid use disorder using implementation strategies tailored to local contexts across a variety of care settings. Sonya Gabrielian, MD, a principal investigator for Housing Transitions QUERI, discussed the implementation of a Critical Time Intervention to improve healthcare access and coordination for Veterans experiencing homelessness. And Joel Boggan, MD, part of HSR&D’s Evidence Synthesis Program (ESP) presented a comprehensive evidence review from ESP on how implementation and quality improvement strategies are used in VA and other large health systems. This session was chaired by Lucy Savitz, PhD, VP, Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region.

Other dynamic presentations from QUERI investigators included:

Barbara Bokhour, PhD, principal investigator for QUERI’s Center for Evaluating Patient-Centered Care (EPCC-VA), gave a presentation titled “VHA’s Whole Health National Demonstration Project: Impact on Experiences of Care, Patient Engagement, and Wellbeing.”

Austin Frakt, PhD, Director of QUERI’s Partnered Evidence Based Policy Resource Center (PEPReC), chaired a session titled “Randomized Trials to Encourage Safe and High-Value Prescribing.”

Walid Gellad, MD, MPH, principal investigator for QUERI’s Dual Use of Medications Initiative, gave a presentation titled “Developing and Validating a Machine-Learning Algorithm to Predict Opioid Overdose among Medicaid Beneficiaries in Two U.S. Cities.”

George Jackson, PhD, principal investigator for the Dynamic Diffusion Network QUERI Program, INPOWR, and QUERI SHAARK, was a panelist on a Health Workforce interest group.

Christopher Miller, PhD, multiple principal investigator of Behavioral Health QUERI, gave a presentation titled “Sustaining a Team-based Collaborative Model of Outpatient Mental Health Care.”

Seppo Rinne, MD, PhD, principal investigator of EMPIRIC QUERI and Scholar QUERI, gave a presentation titled “Key Findings and Lessons Learned from Initial Clinician Experiences with VA Electronic Health Record Modernization.”