# Behavioral Health QUERI: Advancing 21st Century Mental Health Care for Veterans

> **NIH VA I50** · CENTRAL ARKANSAS VETERANS HLTHCARE SYS · 2021 · —

## Abstract

The Behavioral Health QUERI Program will advance the quality and outcomes of mental health care provided
to Veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) settings by implementing a variety of evidence-based
practices (EBPs) and using common conceptual frameworks, implementation strategies, measures, and
analytic processes across projects.
Program Impact Goal:
 Advance 21st century mental health care for Veterans by improving care for those with complex
 behavioral health conditions, including those at highest risk for suicide.
To achieve our Impact Goal, the proposed Behavioral Health QUERI program will address three specific aims:
Aim 1. Understand and enhance implementation, sustainability, and the business case for implementing
evidence-based health care for Veterans with complex behavioral health conditions, including those Veterans
at the highest risk for suicide, through implementation of three evidence-based practices (EBPs) across
diverse VA mental health settings.
Aim 2. Advance implementation science by (i) continuing to evaluate and refine tools and resources to support
use of implementation facilitation (IF) to implement programs and practices that are responsive to VA priorities,
(ii) determining when IF is needed versus centralized technical assistance in VA settings, and (iii) continuing to
transfer IF knowledge and skills to implementation practitioners and researchers in partnership with our
Implementation Facilitation Training Hub.
Aim 3. Transfer implementation science and leadership knowledge and skills needed to support a learning
health system to junior investigators through a comprehensive mentoring program.
Veterans with complex behavioral health conditions (i.e., multiple mental health diagnoses) are at greater risk
for premature morbidity and mortality, including suicide. To improve the quality and coordination of care of
these Veterans, we will promote sustainment and spread of the collaborative chronic care model (CCM) within
outpatient general mental health teams known as Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Programs (BHIPs).
Promising data suggest that aligning BHIP care practices with CCM elements (BHIP-CCM) improves mental
health outcomes for Veterans, but work is needed to further spread and sustain this EBP [EBP-1]. To address
VA’s highest clinical priority of suicide prevention, we are focused on implementing two EBPs that target
chronic suicidality. We will support and evaluate the implementation of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), the
gold standard psychosocial EBP for Veterans at high risk for suicide due to emotion dysregulation and
behavioral dyscontrol [EBP-2]. Additionally, we will support and evaluate the implementation of Life Goals
(LG), an EBP that provides self-management skills for those with bipolar disorder, through a collaboration
between the Bipolar Disorders Telehealth Program (BDTH) and the REACH VET (RV) program [EBP-3].
The overall project goal, program aims, and the aims of each of the ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10069194
- **Project number:** 1I50HX003220-01
- **Recipient organization:** CENTRAL ARKANSAS VETERANS HLTHCARE SYS
- **Principal Investigator:** Sara J Landes
- **Activity code:** I50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-10-01 → 2025-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10069194

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10069194, Behavioral Health QUERI: Advancing 21st Century Mental Health Care for Veterans (1I50HX003220-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10069194. Licensed CC0.

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