A State-of-the-Art Conference on Implementing Evidence in Health Care.

Abstract

In the late summer of 2004, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) convened an invitational symposium, one in a series of state-of-the-art (SOTA) conferences. VHA's SOTAs are high-level “think tank” sessions with a defined agenda focusing on a specific health care topic. The theme of this SOTA conference was “Implementing the Evidence: Transforming Practices, Systems, and Organizations.” About 100 individuals from across North America, not just from within VHA, gathered for 2 days in the Nation's capital. These were the perceived thought leaders in the implementation sciences, enriched by a few influential “movers” within the largest single health care system in the United States (the VHA). To maximize the yield of the 2 days of SOTA conference brainstorming, VHA commissioned papers to be circulated in draft form before the SOTA, with the intent of priming the pump for discussions organized into specific work groups. This issue of the Journal presents these commissioned papers, revised after the conference, selected and refined through peer review, and augmented by additional manuscripts from SOTA participants and their collaborators who responded to a thematic solicitation.