# Complementary and Integrative Health Evaluation Center (CIHEC)

> **NIH VA I50** · VA GREATER LOS ANGELES HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2021 · —

## Abstract

Project Background:
Complementary and integrative health (CIH) such as acupuncture, mindfulness meditation and yoga are
emerging as safe, non-pharmacologic options to improve health with few side effects. The VA Evidence
Synthesis Program reports the evidence on some CIH as “promising” for certain health conditions that are
highly prevalent in Veterans. But the CIH research is almost exclusively on non-Veterans and does not involve
patient reported outcomes (PROs). CIH is a national priority for the VA, as it is the focus of a White House
request to the VA and a Congressional Act that passed last month, and is specifically included in the 2015
MyVA Integrated Plan, the Blueprint for Excellence, and the Office of Patient Care Services' 2016 PACT Pain
Roadmap. Our multi-site qualitative examination of CIH found many reports of unmet Veteran demand for
CIH. CIH is reportedly provided in most VHA medical facilities, but usually in very limited capacity due to
significant implementation barriers.
Project Objectives:
In partnership with VHA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation (OPCC&CT), CIHEC's
overarching goal is to improve Veterans' health and experiences of care, through increased availability and use
of evidence-based CIH. OPCC&CT/CIHEC's specific evaluation goals are to: 1) Improve OPCC&CT's
understanding of the details of CIH provision at VHA medical facilities nationally; 2) Improve OPCC&CT's
understanding of Veteran preference for and utilization of CIH; 3) Establish procedures for collecting CIH-
related PROs in clinical care settings; 4) Examine the effectiveness of CIH on Veterans' health; and 5)
Advance implementation science by comparing facilitation strategies across care settings and informing
QUERI collaborative efforts to refine facilitation approaches.
Project Methods:
We propose four projects developed in concert with OPCC&CT. Environmental Scan is a key informant
online survey of all CIH service delivery points of contact in the VHA, supplemented with an administrative data
extraction, to learn details of what, when, where, and by whom CIH is being delivered. Veteran Preference for
and Utilization of CIH will collect data on Veteran demand for and utilization of CIH via the Veteran Insights
Panel of 3200 Veterans. Our other two projects are guided by the integrated PARIHS framework and use and
test evidence-based facilitation implementation strategies. PRIMIER-I improves the implementation of CIH
patient reported outcome (PRO) data collection in usual care settings by developing and evaluating facilitation
strategies for changing clinical work flow processes and collecting PROs at the point of care. Battlefield
Acupuncture (BFA) is a hybrid type III implementation study that will a) examine the barriers and facilitators to
implementing the VA's National Pain Management Program's auricular acupuncture protocol (BFA); b)
examine existing and newly developed implementation strategies among a random sample of low...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9395218
- **Project number:** 1I50HX002384-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VA GREATER LOS ANGELES HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** STEPHANIE L TAYLOR
- **Activity code:** I50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2024-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9395218

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9395218, Complementary and Integrative Health Evaluation Center (CIHEC) (1I50HX002384-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9395218. Licensed CC0.

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