Clinical Review
Geographic Access to VHA Rehabilitation Services for Traumatically Injured Veterans
Fed Pract. 2009 October;26(10):28
Author and Disclosure Information
Diane C. Cowper Ripley, PhD, Dean M. Reker, RN, PhD, Jeanne Hayes, PhD, W. Bruce Vogel, PhD, Samuel S. Wu, PhD, Rebecca J. Beyth, MD, Barbara J. Sigford, MD, Eric R. Litt, BA, and Xinping Wang, PhD
Dr. Cowper Ripley is a research health scientist and the associate director for the VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D)/Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center Research Enhancement Award Program (RORC REAP) at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System (NF/SGVHS) and an affiliate associate professor in the department of epidemiology and health policy research at University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine, both in Gainesville, FL. Dr. Reker is a senior research scientist at the VA HSR&D Center for the Management of Complex Chronic Care and a senior investigator at the VA Information Resource Center, both in Hines, IL. Dr. Hayes is a research health scientist at the Kansas City VA Medical Center, Kansas City, MO. Dr. Vogel is a research health scientist and the director of methodology core at the VA HSR&D/RR&D RORC REAP and an associate professor and the director of the health policy research division of the department of epidemiology and health policy research at UF College of Medicine. Dr. Wu is a biostatistician at the VA HSR&D/RR&D RORC REAP and an associate professor in the biostatistics division of the department of epidemiology and health policy research at UF College of Medicine. Dr. Beyth is a physician investigator at the VA HSR&D/RR&D RORC REAP; a physician researcher at the NF/SGVHS Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center; and an associate professor in the department of aging and geriatrics at UF College of Medicine. Dr. Sigford is a staff physician at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN and the former national program director for the VHA Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Program Office, Washington, DC. Mr. Litt is a geographer and Dr. Wang is a database manager, both at the VA HSR&D/RR&D RORC REAP.
The flip side of the decrease in mortality after traumatic injury associated with OEF and OIF is the increase in the number of veterans dealing with long-term sequelae of these injuries. These investigators examine how well the geographic distribution of VA rehabilitation resources matches up with veterans’ locations.