VA Funds First National Center of Excellence to Improve Care for Veterans

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) has announced it will fund a new center of excellence that will expand the department’s capacity to deliver innovative, data-driven, and integrated approaches to improve services for veterans and their caregivers.

The center of excellence will consist of a multidisciplinary team that utilizes a virtual network of nationally recognized VA investigators and their university affiliates to ensure that their research will have the greatest possible impact on veterans and the caregivers who support them. The VA investigative team will be led by Luci Leykum, MBA, MSc, MD, of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.

Further, the creation of the center will allow the VA to continue its evidence-based research that helps inform the most appropriate and effective care for veterans based on their needs by:

• involving caregivers of veterans in the design and implementation of innovative models of care;
• applying the best caregiver and Veteran-driven metrics for evaluation and feedback;
• using data science to inform matching of services to different veteran and caregiver groups; and,
• applying implementation science to improve the deployment of best practices in home- and community-based care.

“The resulting work will inform care delivery and improvement by empowering veterans, caregivers, VA and non-VA providers, and leadership in making informed choices regarding the best care for veterans and support for those who support them,” according to an agency press release. 

The center will be managed by the VA’s Office of Health Services Research & Development. Further, the new center will be named for former US Senator Elizabeth Dole in recognition of her national leadership and advocacy on behalf of the nation’s military and veteran caregivers. 

Additinally, Sen Dole will also be receiving recognition for her support of the landmark RAND Corportation research on their challenges.

“Given Sen Elizabeth Dole’s significant impact on, and dedication to, military and Veteran caregivers, it is only fitting that VA names this center of excellence in her honor,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement. 

“The creation of the Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and Caregiver Research is a firm example of VA’s ongoing commitment to improving services and outcomes for the families, friends, and neighbors who tirelessly care for our nation’s Veterans,” he added.

—Julie Gould