ArticleLearning health systems2026
Embedded Research in a Learning Health System: How a Research-Operations Partnership Informed the Development, Implementation, and Scaling of VA's Whole Health System.
Article in Learning health systems, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Embedded research partnerships can advance the implementation of evidence-based policies and practices, including those aligned with person-centered care. Care delivery model transformations, such as the VA's person-centered Whole Health System (WHS), can benefit from an ongoing cycle of program implementation and their evaluation to inform future evolution. This paper describes how embedded researchers partnered with policy makers leading VA's WHS transformation to support its development, implementation, and scaling to illustrate lessons learned for embedded research. Data Sources and Study Setting: Fifty-eight embedded research projects were conducted from FY2013 to FY2024. Study Design: We recorded each project's scope, methodology, results, products, and impact. Through a group reflection process, we identified common cross-project lessons that fostered this successful embedded research partnership. Finally, we mapped projects to phases of Kilbourne's Knowledge to Action Framework (Pre-Implementation, Implementation, and Sustainment) to demonstrate how embedded researchers defined evaluation questions, evaluated WHS transformation, and assessed outcomes to inform the implementation and sustainment of VA's WHS transformation. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Projects used multiple qualitative, survey, and large database methods. Principal Findings: Across 58 projects, 380 discrete products were used by our operational partner to refine the WHS model, improve implementation support, scale effective practices, inform new policy, and sustain transformation. Three practices cut across these projects to contribute to our successful embedded research partnership: agility, collaboration, and continuous learning and improvement. Additionally, the purpose, questions, and methods of embedded research projects varied as operational partner activities moved across pre-implementation, implementation, and sustainment phases, iteratively impacting WHS transformation. Conclusions: Embedded research can transform a healthcare system through the timely translation of data into practice, enabling evidence-based policy and practice decisions. Our embedded research-operations partnership, characterized by trust, respect, and strong communication, ensured that evaluations generated an evidence base to inform both implementation and impact.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.