State Veteran Home Staff Interviews

SVH Staff

On Site Interview

OMB No. 2900-0770
Estimated Burden: 60 min

Expiration Date: 9/30/2020

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995: This information is collected in accordance with section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Accordingly, we may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number. We anticipate that the time expended by all individuals who complete this survey will average 60 minutes. This includes the time it will take to follow instructions, gather the necessary facts and respond to questions asked. Customer satisfaction is used to gauge customer perceptions of VA services as well as customer expectations and desires. The results of this survey will lead to improvements in the quality of service delivery by helping to achieve services. Participation in this survey is voluntary and failure to respond will have no impact on benefits to which you may be entitled.

VA State Veteran Home Telehealth Evaluation Master Telephone Interview Guide for SVH Staff Participants

Interviewer Name: __________________ Participant Number:___________

Date: __________________

Time Start:______________________ Time End:______________________

Hello [interview participant name],

My name is [interviewer name] and helping me today are/is [additional team member(s) [if additional interviewer on phone]. We are part of a VA evaluation team tasked by the VA Office of Rural Health to conduct interviews with SVH staff to learn about the State Veterans Homes’ and VA’s efforts related to the State Veterans’ Homes telehealth program expansion.

What we learn from these interviews will be used to understand how these efforts are implemented to inform collaborations between other State Veterans Homes and VAs. Your responses are confidential and you will not be identified in any reports, presentations, or publications. Your participation in this interview is voluntary. You can stop the interview at any time, and let us know if you’d rather not answer a particular question.

Do you have any questions?

In order to make sure we capture all of the information you give us, we would like to record this call. The audio-file for the recording will be stored directly to restricted access file on the VA intranet. Is this okay with you? [Hit record button.] Okay, to confirm, I’m starting the recording. Is this ok with you?

Grounded prompts: If responses are limited or require clarification, probes may be used to elicit more detailed responses. Probes should use words or phrases presented by the participant using one of the following formats:

1. What do you mean by ____________?
2. Tell me more about ____________ ?
3. Can you give me an example of ____________?
4. Can you tell me about a time when ____________?
5. Who____________?
6. When____________?
7. Where ____________?

1. Could you please tell us your role at your State Veterans’ Home (SVH) and also with the VA’s telehealth program expansion efforts?

2. Tell us about how your SVH site became a part of the SVH telehealth program expansion with the VA.

   1. When did the rollout of the SVH telehealth program expansion begin?

   2. Had any telehealth services been offered to Veterans residing in SVHs prior to the VA’s involvement?

3. Tell us about the development and implementation of the SVH telehealth program expansion at your site.

   1. Barriers/Challenges?

   2. Successes?

4. Tell us about your experience partnering with the VA while implementing the SVH telehealth expansion.

   1. Barriers/Challenges?

   2. Successes?

5. Tell us about the SVH staff who work on the SVH telehealth program expansion at your site.

   1. What percentage of their time is dedicated for the SVH telehealth program expansion?

   2. What is their professional background?

6. Tell us about the types of visits Veterans are treated for via the SVH telehealth program expansion.

   1. Primary Care?

   2. Specialty Care?

   3. Types of VA providers conducting visits?

   4. Frequency of visits by each of these specialties? Average in a given month?

7. Please give us an example of an SVH visit.

   1. That went well?

   2. That posed challenges?

8. What systems have been put in place between the VA and SVH in order to:

   1. Send medical notes from the telehealth visit to the SVH

   2. Send the Veteran’s medical record from the SVH to the VA?

9. What types of telehealth equipment were purchased and used for the telehealth program expansion?

10. Have there been any technical or equipment related problems with the connectivity between the SVH and the VA system?

11. Any other successes of the SVH telehealth program expansion that you would like to share?

12. Any other challenges of the SVH telehealth program expansion that you would like to share?

13. If you were speaking to another SVH that wished to be a part of the SVH telehealth program expansion, what advice would you give them?

14. Is there anything else you feel would be important for us to learn regarding your SVH telehealth program expansion experience?

15. Do you have any questions for us?

Thank you for participating in this interview.

3