Stories | VA Ann Arbor Health Care

LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s leading lung cancer-focused nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2022 VA Research Scholar Awards.

The Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles VA Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan has been home to one of the Veterans Affairs Gerofit programs since 2018.

The VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System Research Service recently became VA’s newest Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) Network of Dedicated Enrollment Sites, or NODES, joining nearly 2 dozen other VA Medical Centers (VAMC) across the country.

Eve Kerr, MD, MPH, MACP, and Nithya Ramnath, MBBS, to Receive the 2021 and 2022 VAAAHS Roger J. Grekin Research Awards

Eve Kerr, MD, MPH, MACP, (left) and Nithya Ramnath, MBBS

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses into its third year, the virus is continuing to show its true toll. Maintaining adequate staffing has proved incredibly challenging for health care systems across the country due to spikes in COVID-19 infections and employee burnout.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated 2 million people aged 12 or older in the United States met criteria for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Opioid Use Disorder is often defined as the problematic use of opioids that causes clinically significant distress or impairment.

When considering the challenges in modern healthcare, many people think of the cost of healthcare, health care quality, appointment wait times – issues centered around the patient. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the heavy workload and potential burnout that doctors and nurses face daily.

Southeast Michigan was hit particularly hard by the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in March and April of 2020. Private healthcare systems around the area quickly began to fill to capacity as the coronavirus spread.

VA wants to reduce the number of benzodiazepines (BZDs) prescriptions from community providers to Veterans, especially seniors aged 65 older.

Older Veterans are more likely to receive their BZD’s through Part D than from VA.

Short-term Shared Medical Appointments (SMA) within routine clinical care demonstrated improved A1c in Veterans with Type-2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.