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Quality Enhancement Research Initiative

Policy Evidence

Resources

  • Policy Briefs designed to support policymakers and inform key initiatives, including MISSION Act, access metrics, and the Evidence Act
  • Publications describing healthcare trends and policy evidence

Using evidence to inform national policy initiatives

QUERI’s Partnered Evidence-Based Policy Resource Center (PEPReC) provides timely, rigorous data analysis to support VA policy, planning, and management initiatives and program evaluations.

PEPReC’s goal is to be an engine for VA’s Learning Health System, where research informs practice and practice informs research. PEPReC is working closely with VA leaders to inform implementation of key components of the MISSION Act and Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act. Learn More.

For more information or to partner with us, contact PEPReC (peprec@va.gov).

PEPREC research

The MISSION Act is designed to expand healthcare access for Veterans especially in underserved areas, increase caregiver benefits, and strengthen VA’s infrastructure and ability to recruit and retain highly qualified providers. PEPReC is providing analytical support to inform VA’s implementation of the MISSION Act, including:

  • Identifying underserved regions and facilities (Sections 401-402)
  • Evaluating the medical scribes pilot (Section 507)
  • Designing the evaluation of the VA Innovation Center’s care delivery and payment pilot programs (Section 152)

Learn More

Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act

The goal of the Evidence Act is to enhance the way that data is used to generate evidence about policies and programs. PEPReC is providing assistance to VA Program Offices, evaluators, and researchers and has developed several resources to support implementation of the Evidence Act, including:

  • Strength of evidence checklist to evaluate VHA budget and legislative proposals
  • Learning agendas to identify gaps and inform policies on access, opioids, and suicide prevention
  • Evaluation capacity assessments for 20 VA Program Offices

Learn More

Selected Publications for Further Reading

  1. Pizer SD, Frakt AB, Sheetz K, Clancy C. Testing Novel Payment and Delivery Approaches through the Veterans Health Administration’s New Center for Innovation, Annals of Internal Medicine 170(2):112-113, January 2019.
  2. Minegishi T, Frakt AB, Garrido MM, Gellad WF, Hausmann LRM, Lewis ET, Pizer SD, Trafton JA, Oliva EM, Randomized Program Evaluation of the VHA Stratification Tool for Opioid Risk Mitigation (STORM): A Research and Clinical Operations Partnership to Examine Effectiveness. Subst Abus. 2019 Jan 8:1-6. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2018.1540376.
  3. Legler A, Price M, Parikh M, Nebeker JR, Ward MC, Wedemeyer, L, Pizer SD, Effect on VA Patient Satisfaction of Provider’s Use of an Integrated Viewer of Multiple Electronic Health Records. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Jan;34(1):132-136. doi: 10.1007/s11606-018-4708-z.
  4. Pearson E, Frakt AB, Medical Scribes, Productivity, and Satisfaction, Journal of the American Medical Association 19;321(7):635-636, February 2019.
  5. Done N, Roy AM, Yuan Y, Rose A, Pizer SD, Prentice JC, Guideline-Concordant Initiation of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy for Stroke Prevention in Older Veterans with Atrial Fibrillation Eligible for Medicare Part D. Health Serv Res. 2019 Feb;54(1):128-138. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13079.
  6. Griffith K, Li D, Davies ML, Pizer SD, Prentice JC. Call center performance affects patient perceptions of access and satisfaction. Am J Manag Care. 2019 Mar:25(9):282-287.
  7. Dasinger E, Branch-Elliman W, Pizer SD, Abdulkerim H, Rosen A, Charns M, Hawn M, Itani K, Mull HJ. Association Between Postoperative Opioid Use and Outpatient Surgical Adverse Events. Am J Surg. 2019 Apr;217(4):605-612. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.12.068.
  8. Branch-Elliman W., Pizer S., Dasinger, E, Gold HS, Abdulkerim H, Rosen AK, Charns MP, Hawn MT, Itani KF, Mull HJ. Facility type and surgical specialty are associated with suboptimal surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis practice patterns: a multi-center, retrospective cohort study. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 8, 49 (2019). doi 10.1186/s13756-019-0503-9.
  9. Mattocks K, Cunningham K, Elwy AR, Finley EP, Greenstone C, Mengeling MA, Pizer SD, Vanneman ME, Weiner M, Bastian LA, Recommendations for the Evaluation of Cross-System Care Coordination from the VA State-of-the-Art Working Group on VA/Non-VA Care. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 May;34(Suppl 1):18-23. doi: 10.1007/s11606-019-04972-1.
  10. Mull HJ, Rosen AK, Charns MP, O’Brien WJ, Hawn MT, Itani KMF, Pizer SD. Emergency Department Use After Outpatient Surgery Among Dually Enrolled VA and Medicare Patients. Qual Manag Health Care. Oct/Dec 2019;28(4):191-199. doi: 10.1097/QMH.0000000000000225.
  11. Yuan Y, Thomas KS, Frakt AB, Pizer SD, Garrido MM. Users Of Veteran-Directed Care And Other Purchased Care Have Similar Hospital Use And Costs Over Time. Health Aff 2019 38:6, 1037-1045.
  12. Kilbourne AM, Braganza MZ, Bowersox NW, Goodrich DE, Miake-Lye I, Floyd N, Garrido MM, Frakt AB, Bever CT, Vega R, Ramoni R. Research Lifecycle to Increase the Substantial Real-World Impact of Research: Accelerating Innovations to Application. Med Care. 2019 Oct;57 Suppl 10 Suppl 3:S206-S212
  13. Frakt AB. Making Health Care More Productive. JAMA. 2019 Dec 17; 322(23):2274-2275. PMID: 31846006.
  14. Carpenter JG, Ersek M, Nelson F, Kinder D, Wachterman M, Smith D, Murray A, Garrido MM. A national study of end-of-life care among older veterans with hearing and vision loss. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019 Dec 30. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16298.
  15. Yee CA, Legler A, Davies M, Prentice J, Pizer S. Priority access to health care: Evidence from an exogenous policy shock. Health Economics. 2020; 1– 18. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3982.
  16. Price ME, Done N, Pizer SD. The Relationship Between Follow-up Appointments and Access to Primary Care. J Gen Intern Med (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05785-3.
  17. Yee CA, Pizer SP, Frakt AB. Medicare’s Bundled Payment Initiatives for Hospital-Initiated Episodes: Evidence and Evolution. Milbank Q. 2020 Sep;98(3):908-974. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12465.
  18. Griffith K, Ndugga N, Pizer SD. Appointment Wait Times for Specialty Care in Veterans Health Administration Facilities vs Community Medical Centers. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(8):e2014313.
  19. Minegishi T, Madison K, Young J, Pizer SD. Regional Market Factors and Patient Experience in Primary Care. Am J Manag Care. 2020;26(10):294-299.
  20. Minegishi T, Garrido MM, Michael Stein M, Oliva E, PhD; Frakt AB. Opioid Discontinuation Among Patients Receiving High-Dose Long-Term Opioid Therapy in the Veterans Health Administration. J Gen Intern Med. 2020 Nov 03. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06252-9. PMID: 33145683.
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