Changes in Reproductive and Sexual Health Diagnoses of Women Veterans Using Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Between FY2010 and FY2018.

Background: Women veterans are the fastest growing group of new Veterans Health Administration (VA) users with more than half a million using VA care in 2018. VA has implemented policies and programs to meet the reproductive and sexual health (RSH) needs of women veterans who increasingly rely on VA to provide comprehensive care.

Objective: We aimed to describe changes in the prevalence of RSH diagnosis categories among women veterans using VA care in fiscal year (FY) 2010 and FY2018.

Menopause-Related Service Needs in Veterans Health Administration Medical Centers: Findings From the Women's Health Practice-Based Research Network Menopause Practice Scan.

Background: Information about the state of menopause-related care in the Veterans Health Administration (VA) is needed to identify targets for intervention and resource development across the national VA Health Care System.

Procedures: A brief electronic key informant survey designed to assess current menopause-related services, resources, and needs in VA primary care was distributed to all active VA Women's Health Practice-Based Research Network (WH-PBRN) Site Leads. The survey included structured items, with responses summarized with descriptive statistics, and open-ended prompts, with answers analyzed using directed content analysis.

The State of VA-funded Women Veterans' Health Systems Research.

Background: Women veterans are the fastest-growing population of new users within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care delivery system. This paper aims to characterize the scope of women's health research funded by VA Health Systems Research (HSR) over the past 10 years.

Methods: Ten years of data (2014-2023) were obtained from a VA financial database that captures research projects that started on or after January 1, 2014.

Availability of Women's Health Clinics, Primary Care Providers, and Women Veterans' Ratings of Care Experiences.

Background/objective: VA strives to improve women Veterans' access to comprehensive care. We assessed if availability of specialized clinic arrangements for women or specialized providers (women's health primary care providers) was associated with women Veterans' ratings of primary care experiences.

Design: Cross sectional.

Enhancing Vocational Rehabilitation Services for Homeless-Experienced Veterans in Permanent Supportive Housing.

Few homeless-experienced individuals use vocational rehabilitation services. Using qualitative methods, as part of a pilot study at VA Greater Los Angeles (GLA), we characterized the perspectives of homeless-experienced persons and homeless program staff on vocational services. We also explored relationships among employment, housing, and well-being in this group.

Equity Using Interventions for Pain and Depression (EQUIPD): A pilot randomized trial.

Despite increased calls for improved health equity, Black patients continue to experience worse pain and associated outcomes. Black patients are also offered fewer pain treatment options than White patients and report poorer quality communication with clinicians, including lower participation in shared decision-making. Comorbid depressive symptoms can impede effective pain management and participation in decision-making.

Variation in Hypertension Control by Race and Ethnicity, and Geography in US Veterans.

Background: Hypertension control and related cardiovascular outcomes among Americans remain suboptimal, and differ by race, ethnicity, and geography. Healthcare access is one of multiple critical factors in hypertension control. Understanding the degree to which healthcare access, versus other factors, produce these outcomes can inform policies and interventions to improve cardiovascular outcomes and reduce disparities.

Training an Embedded Workforce to Realize Health System Impacts and the Promise of Learning Health Systems Comment on "Early Career Outcomes of Embedded Research Fellows: An Analysis of the Health System Impact Fellowship Program".

Learning health systems (LHSs) are designed to systematically integrate external evidence of effective practices with internal data and experience to put knowledge into practice as a part of a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Researchers embedded in health systems are an essential component of LHSs, with defined competencies. However, many of these competencies are not generated by traditional graduate/post-graduate training programs; evaluation of new LHS training programs has been limited.

Does a Welcoming Environment Influence Women Veterans' Primary Care Experiences?

Background: A welcoming environment may influence patient care experiences, and it may be particularly relevant for underrepresented groups, such as women veterans at Veterans Health Administration (VA) facilities where they represent only 8-10% of patients. Challenges to ensuring a welcoming environment for women veterans may include unwelcome comments from male veterans and staff or volunteers and feeling unsafe inside or outside VA facilities. We assessed associations between reports of gender-related environment of care problems and patient-reported outcomes.

Evaluation of regional variation in racial and ethnic differences in patient experience among Veterans Health Administration primary care users.

Objective: To evaluate racial and ethnic differences in patient experience among VA primary care users at the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) level.

Data Source And Study Setting: We performed a secondary analysis of the VA Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients-Patient Centered Medical Home for fiscal years 2016-2019.

Study Design: We compared 28 patient experience measures (six each in the domains of access and care coordination, 16 in the domain of person-centered care) between minoritized racial and ethnic groups (American Indian or Alaska Native [AIAN], Asian, Black, Hispanic, Multi-Race, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander [NHOPI]) and White Veterans.