The Veterans Administration’s Telehealth Services Office www.telehealth.va.gov and the VA Connected Health Office www.va.gov/health/ConnectedHealth are merging to create a single entity, to be called the “Office of Connected Care”. This office will be responsible for implementing and evaluating eHealth technologies across the VA healthcare system.
The Office of Connected Care will help fund the eHealth Partnered Evaluation Initiative www.queri.research.va.gov/partnered_evaluation/ehealth.cfm to further implement eHealth technologies and measure the impact on access and other outcomes.
Evaluation activities are being conducted at multiple VA facilities and encompass mixed qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. The eHealth Partnered Evaluation Initiative will support adoption for secure messaging comprised of reminders, messages, and education materials across multiple channels.
In addition, the Initiative will evaluate the VA’s automated telehealth text messaging system that goes to veterans and clinical team members. The Initiative will compare high and low adoption sites, identify barriers, and then determine how to encourage adoption.