HSR&D Centers of Excellence (COE)
HSR&D provides core funding to fourteen 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 (CMC3)
- Houston, TX: Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies
- Indianapolis, IN: Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice (CIEBP)
- Minneapolis, MN: Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research (CCDOR)
- North Little Rock, AR: Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research (CeMHOR)
- Palo Alto, CA: Center for Health Care Evaluation
- Pittsburgh, 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 Health Care Provider Behavior
- Tampa, FL: Maximizing Rehabilitation Outcomes
Center for Clinical Management Research, Ann Arbor, MI
The Center's main objectives include:
- Improving our understanding of how to measure, monitor, and understand quality and efficiency for a patient population with substantial disease burden
- Rigorously examining alternative and innovative systems and strategies for efficiently improving quality and outcomes for common, serious, and chronic illnesses
- Developing and applying improved methodologies for informing policymakers regarding heterogeneity in the effectiveness and safety of proposed interventions, and assessing barriers to the implementation of high-priority care
Center Executive Summary (143 KB, PDF)
Contact
Eve Kerr, MD, MPH
(734) 845-3502
email: eve.kerr@va.gov
website: http://www.annarbor.hsrd.research.va.gov/
Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research (CHQOER), Bedford, MA
The Center has three strategic goals:
- Patient-centered care
- Patient safety
- Medication effectiveness
Center Executive Summary (102 KB, PDF)
Contact
Dan Berlowitz, MD, MPH
(781) 687-2650
email: dan.berlowitz@va.gov
website: http://www.va.gov/chqoer/
Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research (COLMR), Boston, MA
The Center's main objectives are to:
- Study organization and management practices that result in higher quality of care
- Understand organization and management practices that promote successful organizational change, especially implementing evidence-based clinical practices
- Understand organizational health and its effects on patient care
Center Executive Summary (160 KB, PDF)
Contact
Martin Charns, DBA
(857) 364-4945
email: martin.charns@va.gov
website: http://www.colmr.research.va.gov/
Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, Durham, NC
The Center's main objectives are to:
- Understand the critical aspects of primary care, such as: access, screening for disease, patient-provider communication, practice improvement processes, and generalist-specialist interactions
- Define and improve quality of care for patients with the chronic diseases prevalent in primary care settings
- Understand and improve patient-physician interactions
- Understand the influence of race/ethnicity and cultural factors on access, quality, and outcomes (e.g., clinical, patient-centered, health care utilization, costs)
- Evaluate new technology to enhance access to, and quality of care (e.g., telemedicine)
Center Executive Summary (121 KB, PDF)
Contact
Eugene Oddone, MD, MHSc
(919) 286-6936
email: eugene.oddone@va.gov
website: http://www.durham.hsrd.research.va.gov/
Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care (CMC3), Hines, IL
The Center's strategic goals are to:
- Understand how management of care is affected when patients have multiple chronic conditions in which evidence or recommended guidelines are lacking, conflict with, or complicate overall care management
- Characterize coordination of care within and across healthcare systems, including VA, Medicare, Medicaid, and private sector for Veterans with complex chronic conditions
- Assess the use of patient self-management and behavioral interventions as a means of improving outcomes for Veterans with complex chronic conditions
- Identify and address healthcare provider and system-level factors that affect management of patients with complex chronic conditions
- Identify, assess, and compare the effectiveness of innovative strategies and technologies for improving the care of patients with complex chronic conditions
Center Executive Summary (159 KB, PDF)
Contact
Frances M. Weaver, PhD
(708) 202-2414
email: frances.weaver@va.gov
website: http://www.cmc3.research.va.gov
Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies (HCQCUS), Houston,TX
The Center has four strategic scientific programs:
- Health Decision-Making and Communication studies the decisional and communication processes used by patients and providers as they interact, with the goal of using this knowledge to enhance patients' participation in the care process, maximize patients' ability to manage their chronic health problems, and ensure care for Veterans is in line with patients' and families' values and preferences
- Health Services Delivery and Organization studies innovative interventions and modes of care delivery with the goal to actively disseminate and implement research findings into health care for Veterans
- Health Policy and Quality studies the effects of local, state, and federal governmental policies on the health of populations, access to care, the efficiency of care, and the quality of care with the goal of using this knowledge to influence health policy and improve the quality of health care for Veterans
- Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes studies the distribution and determinants of health-related states, events, and outcomes in specific populations, with the goal of controlling health problems in Veterans
Center Executive Summary (147 KB, PDF)
Contact
Laura A. Petersen, MD, MPH
(713) 794-8623
email: laura.petersen@va.gov
website: http://www.houston.hsrd.research.va.gov/
Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice (CIEBP), Indianapolis, IN
The Center's main objectives are to:
- Develop, apply, and spread models of care that are safe, effective, relationship-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable
- Identify and disseminate effective approaches for organizational change and redesign
- Implement, evaluate, and disseminate systems interventions, considering individual, relational, and organizational factors, to transform care delivery
- Implement and integrate health informatics into improved work processes and care delivery
Center Executive Summary (133 KB, PDF)
Contact
Michael Weiner, MD, MPH
(317) 988-4876
email: michael.weiner4@va.gov
website: http://www.ciebp.research.va.gov/
Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research (CEMHOR), Little Rock, AR
The Center has the following strategic goals:
- Improve the quality of specialty mental health care for Veterans with serious and persistent mental health and substance use disorders, as well as the quality of mental health care provided in primary care settings
- Improve access to and engagement in care for Veterans with untreated mental health and substance use disorders in the community
- Improve outcomes of mental health care for Veterans, particularly those residing in rural areas, those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and those with mental health disorders that are comorbid with substance use or physical health disorders
- Develop and test interventions to improve access, engagement, quality, outcomes, and implementation strategies to promote widespread adoption and sustainability of cost-effective interventions
Center Executive Summary (135 KB, PDF)
Contact
Richard Owen, MD
(501) 257-1710
email: richard.owen2@va.gov
website: http://www.hsrd.research.va.gov/centers/cemhor.cfm
Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research (CCDOR), Minneapolis, MN
The Center's focus is post-deployment health, with an emphasis on:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Polytrauma/blast-related injuries and other unique health issues facing Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF)
- Substance use disorders (including tobacco)
Center Executive Summary (155 KB, PDF)
Contact
Hanna Bloomfield, MD, MPH
(612) 725-2158
email: hanna.bloomfield@va.gov
website: http://www.hsrd.minneapolis.med.va.gov/
Center for Health Care Evaluation (CHCE), Palo Alto, CA
The research of the Center focuses on three critical health care domains:
- Treatment of substance use and psychiatric disorders
- Clinical decision-making, screening, and diagnostic assessment
- Organization and delivery of healthcare services
Center Executive Summary (150 KB, PDF)
Contact
Steven M. Asch MD, MPH
(650) 493-5000 x23476
email: Steven.Asch@va.gov
website: http://www.chce.research.va.gov/
Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP), Pittsburgh/Philadelphia, PA
The mission of this Center is to promote equity and quality in health and healthcare among Veterans. Specific goals are to:
- Advance the science of health equity and health services research
- Improve the quality and equity of healthcare in VA through effective collaborations and dissemination of research results
- Support health equity and health services research training and mentoring within VA
- Maintain and enhance an organizational infrastructure and intellectual environment that promotes our mission and goals.
Center Executive Summary (130 KB, PDF)
Contact (Pittsburgh)
Michael J. Fine, MD, MSc
(412) 954-5256
email: michael.fine@va.gov
website: http://www.cherp.research.va.gov/
Contact (Philadelphia)
Said Ibrahim, M.D., M.P.H.
(215) 823-5847
email: said.ibrahim2@va.gov
website: http://www.cherp.research.va.gov/
Northwest Center for Outcomes Research in Older Adults, Seattle, WA
The Center's main objectives include:
- Management of chronic disease in primary and specialty care
- Preservation of independence in older Veterans
- Evaluation of alternative delivery systems
- Basic methodology in health services research
Center Executive Summary (94 KB, PDF)
Contact
David H. Au, MD, MS (Acting CoE Director)
(206) 277-6132
email: david.au@va.gov
website: http://www.pugetsound.hsrd.research.va.gov/
Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior, Sepulveda, CA
The Center's main objectives are to:
- Promote better health and healthcare for Veterans by gathering research evidence about healthcare provider behavior and organizational characteristics of healthcare systems
- Translate provider behavior research evidence into practice
- Study factors that influence healthcare provider behavior
- Design health systems interventions to improve provider practice
Center Executive Summary (100 KB, PDF)
Contact
Elizabeth Yano, PhD, MSPH
(818) 891-7711 x5483
email: Elizabeth.Yano@va.gov
website: http://www.providerbehavior.research.va.gov/
Maximizing Rehabilitation Outcomes, Tampa, FL
The Center's objectives include:
- Advancing the science of rehabilitation by using robust research methods that combine traditional health services outcomes, such as patient safety, quality of life, access, healthcare utilization, and cost) with rehabilitation outcomes (e.g., function, activity, and community participation)
- Promoting early detection and treatment of wounded Veterans with subtle, delayed-onset, and overlapping symptoms
- Developing tools for screening, risk assessment, and outcome measurement in rehabilitation settings of care
- Becoming a national resource to VHA, HSR&D and RR&D in the areas of physical therapy, rehabilitation outcomes, and patient safety for Veterans with disabilities.
Center Executive Summary (125 KB, PDF)
Contact
Gail Powell-Cope, PhD, ARNP,
FAAN (Acting)
(813) 558-3911
email: gail.powell-cope@va.gov
website: http://www.cmro.research.va.gov/