VHIE News
Keeping the Connection Strong: How VA Sustains Provider Coordination 
Robust coordination with non-VA providers is central to strong care coordination for our Veterans. Once a non-VA provider goes live with Direct Secure Messaging (Direct) and begins exchanging information with a VA Medical Center, ongoing engagement becomes essential. The VA Direct Partner Management Quality Management (QM) and Sustainment workstream ensures these non-VA providers remain supported, informed, and active—keeping workflows stable, effective, and valuable over time.
As part of the VA Direct team led by Angela Baker, the QM and Sustainment workstream reinforces VA’s commitment to secure, seamless health information exchange between VA and non-VA providers. By helping providers use Direct effectively, the workstream ensures clinicians have reliable, usable information that leads to better-informed decisions for Veterans’ care.
At its core, the QM and Sustainment workstream oversees continuous monitoring, maintenance, and engagement with non-VA providers. Before this work began, many providers struggled to understand Direct workflows or maintain consistent participation. Sustainment efforts address these challenges through a combined quality control and quality assurance framework that supports workflow stability, evaluates opportunities for improvement, and ensures changes are implemented thoughtfully.
Regular re-engagement is central to this work, and providers have shared appreciation for the VA Direct team’s continued collaboration. Routine check-ins also identify workflows at risk for decommissioning, enabling proactive intervention. In one instance, a swift mitigation plan prevented a workflow from being discontinued, allowing uninterrupted information exchange and continuity of care. The team’s ongoing communication, user support, trend monitoring, and documentation updates help providers adapt as their organizational needs evolve, supporting smooth integration, reliable operations, and growing interest in expanding use cases.
As Yaasmeen Daud, Clinical Informaticist for the VA Direct Partner Management Team, noted, “I really want to emphasize that our mission here is to continue to build on these strong partnerships with our [non-VA] providers that can hopefully help different healthcare systems continue to work together…cutting down extra paperwork by of course using Direct and making sure our Veterans get timely, well-coordinated, high-quality care.”
The workstream advances SECVA’s commitment to put Veterans first by ensuring Veterans’ health information is not only accessible but actionable. Stable workflows support timely and coordinated care, while continuous improvement and strong collaboration drive better outcomes. By emphasizing stability, engagement, and continuous improvement, this workstream ensures that care coordination does what it’s meant to do: support better care, every day.
