HSR&D » Centers

HSR&D Centers of Excellence (COE)

HSR&D provides core funding to thirteen Centers of Excellence (COEs). Each COE develops its own research agenda, is affiliated with a VA Medical Center and collaborates with local schools of public health and universities to carry out its mission. The research at each COE serves to energize the facility and network with which they are affiliated, and provides a constant source of innovation, creativity and support.

• Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Clinical Management Research
• Bedford, MA: Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research (CHQOER)
• Boston, MA: Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research (COLMR)
• Durham, NC: Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care
• Hines, IL: Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care
• Houston, TX: Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies (HCQCUS)
• Indianapolis, IN: Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice
• Iowa City, IA: Center for Research in the Implementation of Innovative Strategies in Practice (CRIISP)
• Minneapolis, MN: Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research (CCDOR)
• Palo Alto, CA: Center for Health Care Evaluation (CHCE)
• Pittsburgh/Philadelphia, PA: Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP)
• Seattle, WA: Northwest Center for Outcomes Research in Older Adults
• Sepulveda, CA: Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior

Center for Clinical Management Research, Ann Arbor, MI

• Quality monitoring and improvement
• Outcome evaluation of alternative treatments
• Practice and outcomes variations
• Resource allocation and shared decision making

Contact
Eve Kerr, M.D., M.P.H.
(734) 845-3502
email: eve.kerr@va.gov
web site: http://www.annarbor.hsrd.research.va.gov/

Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research, Bedford, MA

• Health economics

• Productivity measurement
• Quality assessment in ambulatory and long term care
• Health outcomes measurement
• Case-mix measurement
• Cost-effectiveness
• Decision analysis

Contact
Dan Berlowitz, M.D., M.P.H.
(781) 687-2650
email: dan.berlowitz@va.gov
web site: http://www.va.gov/chqoer/

Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research, Boston, MA

• Identify organization, leadership, and management practices as they relate to the quality of patient care and to the implementation of organizational change;
• Evaluate the effects of leadership development programs;
• Develop a database that captures the characteristics of individual VA medical centers, and Veterans Integrated Service Networks as a whole; and
• Contribute to HSR&D's continuing efforts to help VA bridge the gap between research and practice by discovering new knowledge about the factors related to the successful implementation of evidence-based research into clinical practice.

Contact
Martin P. Charns, DBA
(617) 232-9500, ext. 44945
email: martin.charns@va.gov
web site: http://www.colmr.research.va.gov/

Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, Durham, NC

• Ambulatory care
• Women's health
• Geriatrics
• Epidemiology of chronic disease

Contact
Eugene Z. Oddone, M.D.
(919) 286-6936
email: oddon001@mc.duke.edu
web site: http://www.durham.hsrd.research.va.gov/

Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care, Hines, IL

The overall focus of CMC³ revolves around improving Management of Complex Chronic Care in:

• Pharmacotherapeutics
• Health economics and value in health care
• Behavioral interventions and health communications as they relate to complex chronic care

Contact
Frances M. Weaver, BA, MA, PhD
(708) 202-2414
email: frances.weaver@va.gov
web site: http://www.cmc3.research.va.gov

Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, Houston,TX

• Quality of care assessment
• Determinants of health services utilization
• Translational (implementation) research
• Health disparities
• Chronic care models
• Health decision making

Contact
Laura A. Petersen, MD, MPH
(713) 794-8623
email: laurap@bcm.tmc.edu
web site: http://www.hsrd.houston.med.va.gov/

Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice, Indianapolis, IN

• Generate new knowledge about best practices through clinical and organizational research;
• Identify organizational, environmental and provider-based aspects of health systems that influence adoption of these best practices;
• Design and test health system interventions to support, expand, and sustain the implementation of evidence-based practice;
• Make maximal use of research evidence in routine care;
• Facilitate the use of research in the dissemination of best practices.

Contact
Bradley N. Doebbeling, MD, MSc
(317) 988-4493
email: bdoebbel@iupui.edu
web site: http://www.ciebp.research.va.gov/

Center for Research in the Implementation of Innovative Strategies in Practice, Iowa City, IA

• Conduct innovative research that advances understanding of strategies for incorporating knowledge into practice to improve veterans' health;
• Expand understanding of fundamental barriers and facilitators to the adoption of evidence-based practices;
• Develop, test, and disseminate novel interventions to improve quality and lower costs in a variety of practice settings; and
• Contribute to VA research programs focused on implementation research, such as the Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI).

Contact
Gary Rosenthal, M.D.
(319) 356-4241
email: gary-rosenthal@uiowa.edu
web site: http://www.va.gov/CRIISP/

Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Minneapolis, MN

• Post traumatic stress disorder
• Polytrauma and Blast-related injuries and other unique health issues facing veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
• Substance use disorders (including tobacco)
• Clinical research programs in osteoporosis, vaccine preventable disease, prostate and urological disease, and abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Intervention and implementation research in colorectal cancer screening
• Health disparities in disadvantaged populations
• Methods for reducing bias in observational studies
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• Surveys
• Multi-center clinical trials
• Intervention development and testing

Contact
Hanna Bloomfield, M.D., M.P.H.
(612) 725-1979
email: Bloom013@maroon.tc.umn.edu
web site: http://www.hsrd.minneapolis.med.va.gov/

Center for Health Care Evaluation: Improving Clinical Decision-making and Treatment Effectiveness, Palo Alto, CA

• Improving the delivery of health care services
• Patient decision aids
• Screening procedures
• Clinical decision-making
• Evaluating treatment for substance abuse and psychiatric disorders
• Evaluating treatment for older veterans
• Health services research methodology

Contact
John W. Finney, Ph.D.
(650) 493-5000 ext 22848
email: john.finney@va.gov
web site: http://www.chce.research.va.gov /

Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Pittsburgh/Philadelphia, PA

Develop and support research, education, policy making, and dissemination that focuses on

• disparities related to race/ethnicity,
• socioeconomic status,
• and comorbid illness in patients with conditions prevalent in the veteran population, such as cardiovascular disease, HIV, and alcohol and substance abuse.

Contact (Pittsburgh)
Michael J. Fine, MD, MSc.
(412) 688-6477
email: Michael.Fine@va.gov
web site: http://www.cherp.research.va.gov/

Contact (Philadelphia)
David A. Asch, MD, MBA
(215) 898-0102
email: Asch@opim.wharton.upenn.edu
web site: http://www.cherp.research.va.gov/

Northwest Center for Outcomes Research in Older Adults, Seattle, WA

• Management of chronic disease
• Preservation of independence of elderly and disabled veterans
• Innovative models of care
• New methods of health services research

Contact
Susan Hedrick, PhD
(206) 764-2085
email: susan.hedrick@va.gov
web site: http://www.hsrd.seattle.med.va.gov/

Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior, Sepulveda, CA

• Provider behavior and practice patterns
• Clinical practice guidelines
• Evaluation of delivery systems
• Health care quality and outcomes

Contact
Lisa V. Rubenstein, M.D., M.S.P.H.
(818) 895-9449
email: Lisar@rand.org
web site: http://www.providerbehavior.med.va.gov/