The VA Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) is an integral part of VA’s quest for innovative solutions to today’s healthcare challenges. HSR&D supports research that underscores all aspects of VA healthcare, focusing on patient care, cost, and quality. The goal of HSR&D research is to identify, evaluate, and rapidly implement evidence-based strategies that improve the quality and safety of care delivered to Veterans. Health services research is a collaborative and cross-cutting field, often inspired by intersectional clinical, organizational, or basic research questions. Studies conducted by the approximately 1,000 funded researchers are comprehensive, and address critical issues for Veterans as well as for the VA healthcare system as a whole. The Veterans Health Administration is the nation's only integrated healthcare system, and as such provide investigators with a unique population and data set from which to understand the critical health concerns facing our nations' Veterans. VA HSR&D research findings have had major impact outside the VA, in areas ranging from cholesterol screening guidelines to opioid efficacy.
