Address: 1Office of Quality and Performance (retired), Veterans Health Administration, . Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA and . Department of Veterans Affairs Midwest Health Care Network, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Email: Thomas J Craig - tlc1963@; Robert Petzel* - * Corresponding author | Implementation Science BioMed Central Open Access Debate Management perspectives on research contributions to practice through collaboration in the . Veterans Health Administration QUERI Series Thomas J Craig1 and Robert Petzel 2 Address 1Office of Quality and Performance retired Veterans Health Administration . Department of Veterans Affairs Washington DC USA and . Department of Veterans Affairs Midwest Health Care Network Minneapolis Minnesota USA Email Thomas J Craig - tlc1963@ Robert Petzel - Corresponding author Published 26 February 2009 Received 22 August 2006 Implementation Science 2009 4 8 doi l 748-5908-4-8 Accepted 26 February 2009 This article is available from http content 4 1 8 2009 Craig and Petzel licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http licenses by which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract_ The Quality Enhancement Research Initiative QUERI is a unique quality improvement program designed to connect health services researchers to Veterans Health Administration VHA management and operations as well as to provide the science and initiative for making change. Through this process QUERI stakeholders have learned that success and impact in improving healthcare quality and outcomes largely depends on coordination and collaboration among numerous VHA programs and organizations working to develop and implement evidence-based clinical policies practices and quality improvement strategies. This Commentary discusses some of these collaborative efforts and perceived successes in achieving common goals from the viewpoints of two closely involved VHA Operations Support stakeholders. The Commentary is part
