Increasing buprenorphine access for patients with chronic pain: a quality improvement initiative.

Objective: Buprenorphine is effective for chronic pain and safer than full-agonist opioids; however, limited education about and support for buprenorphine can result in under-prescribing in primary care and reduced access in specialty pain clinics. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to optimize and evaluate procedures for transferring patients stable on buprenorphine for chronic pain from a specialty pain clinic back to primary care.

Setting: Eight primary care clinics within a Veterans Health Administration health care system.

Sexual Health Assessment Is Vital to Whole Health Models of Care.

Sexual health is the state of well-being regarding sexuality. Sexual health is highly valued and associated with overall health. Overall health and well-being are more than the absence of disease or dysfunction.

Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Within a Large Healthcare System: a Population Health Model.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccine hesitancy, pose a significant public health threat. The Veterans Health Administration system is uniquely situated to provide insights into the implementation of a population health approach to vaccine acceptance.

Aim: We describe the VA Connecticut Healthcare System's (VACHS) quality improvement project to improve rates of vaccine uptake.

Virtual Respiratory Urgent Clinics for COVID-19 Symptoms.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a shift from in-person to virtual care to reduce exposure risks to patients and health care workers. This report aims to describe a large primary care system's implementation of virtual respiratory urgent care clinics (VRUCs).

Methods: The VA Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS) delivers care to more than 58,000 veterans in at 8 primary care sites.

A Facility-Wide Plan to Increase Access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care and General Mental Health Settings.

Background: The opioid epidemic in the United States has generated a pressing need to enhance access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). This program description illustrates a quality-improvement effort to extend MOUD to primary care and general mental health clinics within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Connecticut Healthcare system (VACHS), and to examine barriers and facilitators to implementation of MOUD in target clinics.

Observations: As part of the national VA Stepped Care for Opioid Use Disorder Train the Trainer (SCOUTT) initiative to improve MOUD access, a VACHS team identified and resolved barriers to MOUD in target clinics.

A Model for Rapid Transition to Virtual Care, VA Connecticut Primary Care Response to COVID-19.

Introduction: Traditionally, health care delivery in the USA has been structured around in-person visits. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a shift to virtual care models in order to reduce patient exposure to high-risk environments and to preserve valuable health care resources. This report describes one large primary care system's model for rapid transition to virtual care (RTVC).

Group Visits for Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution in Primary Care: A Pilot Quality Improvement Initiative.

Objective: Opioid prescribing for chronic pain significantly contributes to opioid overdose deaths in the United States. Naloxone as a take-home antidote to opioid overdose is underutilized and has not been evaluated in the high-risk chronic pain population. The objective was to increase overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) to high-risk patients on long-term opioid therapy for pain by utilizing group visits in primary care.

Post deployment care for returning combat veterans.

Since September 11, 2001, 2.4 million military personnel have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, roughly 1.