Transforming Va’s Spinal Cord Injuries & Disorders (SCI/D) System of Care: Improving Age-related Outcomes and Long-term Care Access for Veterans 1197

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Location: ROOM: Joliet Room >>> DIRECTIONS Third Floor >>> From the Main Elevator Bank, proceed right. Turn right at the Marquette Foyer. The Joliet Room is located at the end of the hall on your left.

Corresponding Presenter(s)

Bridget A. Cotner, PhD

Research Health Scientist
Edward Hines, Jr VA
Hines, Illinois, United States

Slides Slides

Presenter(s)

Bridget M. Smith, PhD

Operations Research Analyst
VA Central Office
Arlington Heights, IL, United States
KS

Kevin T. Stroupe, PhD

Director
Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, Edward Hines , Jr. VA
Hines, Illinois, United States
DF

Dezon K. Finch, PhD

Research Health Scientist
Edward Hines, Jr. VA
Hines, Illinois, United States

Non-Presenting Contributor(s)

Jennifer L. Sippel, PhD

National Outcomes Director
SCI/D National Program Office, Veterans Health Administration
Washington, DC, United States

Non-presenting Contributor(s)

Rena Steiger-Chadwick, MPH (she/her/hers)

Research Health Science Specialist
Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital
Hines, Illinois, United States

Non-Presenting Contributor(s)

BG

Barry Goldstein, MD

Deputy, Executive Director
SCI/D, VA Central Office
Seattle, Washington, United States
Bridget M. Hahm, MA, MPH, CCRC

Social Science Program Coordinator
Edward Hines, Jr. VA
Hines, IL, United States
GE

Gabriel Escudero, Jr., MA

Research Health Science Scientist
Edward Hines, Jr. VA
Hines, Illinois, United States

In this symposium, we provide an overview of VA’s SCI/D long term care for veterans with SCI/D and highlight three inter-connected projects. The first presentation focuses on key aspects of value-driven Veteran care provided through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders (SCI/D) System of Care’s six Long Term Care (LTC) Centers. The second and third presentations describe the long-term care needs and experiences identified by Veterans with SCI/D living in long-term care settings. Lastly, we showcase our natural language process (NLP) approach to augment missing data in the VHA SCI/D registry dataset to identify long term care needs. These presentations highlight the long term care needs and quality of life impact as Veterans age with SCI/D.

Learning Objectives:

describe long-term care within the Veterans Health Administration and current characteristics of Veterans with SCI living in long term care settings.
understand Veteran experiences in and decision making about long term care.
document Veterans’ needs for long term care.
identify missing long term care data in the SCI Registry using natural language processing.