4.2: Medical Research and Development

Advance VA medical research and development programs that address veterans’ needs, with an emphasis on service-connected injuries and illnesses, and contribute to the Nation’s knowledge of disease and disability.

Other Information:

Purpose and Outcomes: The purpose of this objective is to advance medical research and development programs in ways that support veterans’ needs and contribute to the Nation’s medical and scientific knowledge base as a public good. VA will pursue medical research areas that most directly address the diseases and conditions that affect veterans. VA research will also serve as a public good by providing benefits to the Nation as a whole in improving medical knowledge of disease and disability. Strategies and Processes: VA will increase provider and veterans’ knowledge of the impact of military service on health care. VA will intensify efforts to implement the Veterans’ Health Initiative (VHI). Veterans’ military history and potential consequences of service will be fully incorporated into the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS). VA will develop, distribute, and promote orientation videos for incoming medical staff and other health care trainees. VA will conduct medical research that leads to demonstrable improvements in veterans’ health. Full research compliance and standardized protection of human subjects will be maintained. VA will increase the proportion of research funding directed to projects addressing veteranrelated issues, cooperative studies, and translational research. Support for ‘translational research” such as Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) will be strengthened. Crosscutting Activities All research conducted in VA facilities is subject to the regulations of other Federal agencies as well as to VA’s own regulations. VA will work closely with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and HHS on joint studies funded by NIH. Similarly, VA will work closely with the Food and Drug Administration on human studies funded by pharmaceutical companies in support of new pharmaceutical or device applications. Sharing research and development will be aggressively supported and encouraged between VA and DoD. VA and DoD will explore military and veteran-related health research to include deployment health issues. In addition, VA and DoD will establish a forum for the sharing of best practices in health research and develop a mechanism to ensure that research outcomes are shared throughout the Departments. External Factors: Among the external influences that may affect the future direction of the Research and Development Program are the Congress and advisory committees. In recent years, Congress has consistently demonstrated its support for adequate VA research funding and has taken specific actions to substantially augment VA’s appropriations for research. We expect Congress to maintain a high degree of interest in VA research by devoting more oversight on VA‘s spending of research dollars.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

Content