Primary care physicians' perspectives on Veterans who obtain prescription opioids from multiple healthcare systems.

Objective: To characterize primary care physicians' (PCPs') perceptions of the reasons patients receive opioid medications from both VA and non-VA healthcare systems.

Design: Qualitative.

Setting: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Physicians' Perspectives Regarding Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Use Within the Department of Veterans Affairs: a Multi-State Qualitative Study.

Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has implemented robust strategies to monitor prescription opioid dispensing, but these strategies have not accounted for opioids prescribed by non-VA providers. State-based prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are a potential tool to identify VA patients' receipt of opioids from non-VA prescribers, and recent legislation requires their use within VA.

Objective: To evaluate VA physicians' perspectives and experiences regarding use of PDMPs to monitor Veterans' receipt of opioids from non-VA prescribers.

Pharmacy Use in the First Year of the Veterans Choice Program: A Mixed-methods Evaluation.

Background: The Veterans Choice Program (VCP) was created to ensure timely access to health care in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Under this program, medications may be ordered by select non-VA clinicians to be dispensed by VA pharmacies, creating new challenges in ensuring medication safety.

Objectives: To examine pharmaceutical use during the first year of the VCP and to understand barriers and facilitators for VA pharmacists to dispensing medications under the VCP.

Effects of declared levels of physical activity on quality of life of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Routine physical fitness improves health and psychosocial well-being of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The current study investigated impact of physical fitness on quality of life by comparing individuals who maintain a physically active lifestyle with those who do not report exercising. We assessed several indicators of quality of life, including inclusion and community participation; satisfaction with professional services, home life, and day activities; dignity, rights, and respect received from others; fear; choice and control; and family satisfaction.