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Share this email with your colleagues to make sure they get the latest VHA IE news: SUBSCRIBE
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VHA Innovators Network (iNET) is thrilled to welcome five additional VA facilities to its current network of 35 VA facilities. These sites support employee-driven innovation design and implementation, execute innovation competency curriculums, explore collaborations with the private sector, and ensure the voice of the VA is included in the innovations of tomorrow.
“I am ecstatic that we have five new sites joining our iNET family this fall,” said Allison Amrhein, Director of iNET. “We are so grateful that these sites are committed and willing to invest in employee empowerment. Hopefully, more sites will be able to join in the future!”
This year's new sites include:
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Jesse Brown VA Medical Center
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Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
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Salisbury VA Health Care System
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VA Southeast Louisiana Healthcare System
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VA Fayetteville Coastal Health Care
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As the iNET community expands, innovation flourishes. iNET sites are leaders of innovation, guiding VA staff toward human-centered problem-solving and cultivating employee-driven change across the VA to better serve our Veterans. iNET is excited to see what these sites will do to improve Veteran care.
Want to learn more about iNET? Click here to view our recently published overview video on the VHA YouTube Channel!
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 The VHA Innovation Experience (iEX) heads to the Midwest for 2024! VHA's Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning (VHA OHIL) will host the 2024 VHA Innovation Experience (iEX), October 29-30, in Chicago, IL.
Join us at the InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile for presentations, panel discussions and an exciting all-new exhibit hall format that will encourage and propel VA, industry, entrepreneurial, and academic leaders to “collaborate for change”. Agenda highlights and much more is coming soon.
Forward this save-the-date to your frequent collaborators and invite them to join you in the Windy City at iEX 2024! Have questions? Email iex@va.gov. Can’t wait to see you in October!
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Reducing Veteran suicides is a top clinical priority for VA. Addressing this complex healthcare issue requires both community and clinical intervention.
In 2018, Veterans Health Administration implemented the Suicide Risk Identification Strategy, which standardized suicide screening and evaluation with the development of the Comprehensive Suicide Risk Screen Evaluation (CSRE).
SAFE-Watch, developed by Kansas City VA Health Informatics Specialist Michael Rogers and his team, creates real-time reports to identify at-risk Veterans without a completed CSRE; alerting the facility’s suicide prevention team to complete required follow-up care. Following SAFE-Watch’s implementation in VISN 15, the CSRE completion rate jumped from 65% to over 90% locally.
“Our team has been able to develop an effective way to support staff without them feeling like they’re being micromanaged, and the Veteran receives the care they deserve without falling through the cracks,” said Rogers.
These results prompted the SAFE-Watch team to enter the 2023 VHA Shark Tank Competition, where they earned a bid to replicate the practice to VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System. SAFE-Watch currently operates at 26 VA facilities with another 10 adoptions in progress. The team plans to expand the project into an independently adoptable product in the future.
To learn more about SAFE-Watch and follow their innovation journey, visit their page on Diffusion Marketplace.
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The PRIDE in All Who Served (PRIDE) program is a 10-week health promotion group for LGBTQ+ Veterans designed to reduce health care disparities, including suicide risk.
Originally developed in 2016 by clinician Dr. Tiffany Lange at Hampton VA Medical Center, the practice addressed a critical patient service gap and lack of evidence-based interventions for LGBTQ+ Veterans.
A recent article by The American Legion discussed their recent visit to Birmingham VA Health Care System, where they had the chance to interview original members of the PRIDE team, VA employees from the VA Birmingham PRIDE group, as well as Veterans who are participating or have participated in PRIDE at VA Birmingham.
“Many providers were unaware of how to serve LGBTQ Veterans. Many Veterans were unaware services existed,” explained Dr. Michelle Hilgeman, a clinical psychologist at Tuscaloosa VA and original member of the PRIDE team. “We got to see how people were dealing with stress, see their sense of being affirmed in their identity, their resilience, social connectedness — the things we were hoping to impact.”
Shaped by Veteran feedback, the group sessions increase identity-related acceptance, social connectedness, and satisfaction with VA care among LGBTQ+ Veterans. Participants also report reduced feelings of internalized stigma and symptoms of depression and anxiety.
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