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Use of Health Information Technology to Advance Evidence-Based Care: Lessons from the VA QUERI Program

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Services Research and Development Service’s Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) has progressed, health information technology (HIT) has occupied a crucial role in implementation research projects.

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the role of HIT in VA QUERI implementation research, including HIT use and development, the contributions implementation research has made to HIT development, and HIT-related barriers and facilitators to implementation research.

PARTICIPANTS

Key informants from nine disease-specific QUERI Centers.

APPROACH

Documentation analysis of 86 implementation project abstracts followed up by semi-structured interviews with key informants from each of the nine QUERI centers. We used qualitative and descriptive analyses.

RESULTS

We found: (1) HIT provided data and information to facilitate implementation research, (2) implementation research helped to further HIT development in a variety of uses including the development of clinical decision support systems (23 of 86 implementation research projects), and (3) common HIT barriers to implementation research existed but could be overcome by collaborations with clinical and administrative leadership.

CONCLUSIONS

Our review of the implementation research progress in the VA revealed interdependency on an HIT infrastructure and research-based development. Collaboration with multiple stakeholders is a key factor in successful use and development of HIT in implementation research efforts and in advancing evidence-based practice.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the VA Information Resource Center that assisted in the evaluation project including collecting and summarizing data, report preparation, and review of early drafts of the manuscript. Participating staff included Patricia Murphy, Joanne Stevens, Cynthia Padera, Margaret Browning, and Ruth Perrin.

This research was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research & Development Service, Translation Data Initiative for QUERI Groups, Project Number TRA 01–001, and the VA Information Resource Center, project no. SDR-98–004. Dr. Hynes also received support for a VA Research Career Scientist Award.

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Conflict of Interest

None disclosed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. VA Information Resource Center, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL, USA

    Denise M. Hynes PhD, MPH, RN, Timothy Weddle PhD, MBA & Erika Whittier MPH

  2. Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL, USA

    Denise M. Hynes PhD, MPH, RN

  3. College of Medicine and School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Denise M. Hynes PhD, MPH, RN

  4. VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Nina Smith MPH

  5. Health Services Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA

    David Atkins MD, MPH

  6. Office of Quality and Performance, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA

    Joseph Francis MD

Authors
  1. Denise M. Hynes PhD, MPH, RN
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  2. Timothy Weddle PhD, MBA
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  3. Nina Smith MPH
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  4. Erika Whittier MPH
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  5. David Atkins MD, MPH
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Denise M. Hynes PhD, MPH, RN.

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Hynes, D.M., Weddle, T., Smith, N. et al. Use of Health Information Technology to Advance Evidence-Based Care: Lessons from the VA QUERI Program. J GEN INTERN MED 25 (Suppl 1), 44–49 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1144-0

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