VA Health Systems Research

VA Health Systems Research is an integral part of VA’s quest for innovative solutions to today’s healthcare challenges. VA HSR supports research that underscores all aspects of VA healthcare, focusing on patient care, cost, and quality. VA HSR is an actively managed portfolio that's part of the VA Office of Research & Development and provides a collaborative and cross-cutting research portfolio, 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 findings have had major impact outside the VA, in areas ranging from cholesterol screening guidelines to opioid efficacy.