Characterization and Evaluation of Department of Veterans Affairs Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities-Accredited Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programs: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Program Evaluation

Background: Veterans are more likely to experience chronic pain than civilians, with significant negative impacts on long-term health outcomes. Evidence for the effectiveness of prescription opioids for chronic pain management is limited, and chronic use of opioids is associated with an increased risk of sleep-disordered breathing, cardiovascular complications, and bowel dysfunction, as well as opioid misuse and overdose. Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense guidelines are prioritizing low-risk, evidence-based interdisciplinary pain management strategies while optimizing pain-related outcomes(PRO) for veterans. Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)-Accredited VA Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programs (IPRPs) have shared characteristics, while maintaining their unique characteristics as individual pain management programs. Though little is known about the characteristics of VA's IPRPs (eg, staffing, services, and patients served), implementation, and sustainability of these mandated programs. Objective: Thegoals of our operational partner-driven evaluationareto(1) characterize IPRPs across multiple programfactors, including but not limited to, service delivery methods, team composition, program characteristics, services and modalities offered, and patients served; (2) triangulate data to inform data visualization that characterizes and illustrates the IPRPs individually and collectively as a system of care; and (3) identify patient-reported outcomes(PROs) and metrics to measure program effectiveness and determine overlap across IPRPs. Methods: This partnered-driven program evaluation will use a sequential mixed methods prospective design, including interviews and surveys. TheConsolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, and Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) strategies will be used to contextualize qualitative data. Rapid content analysis will be used to iteratively analyze qualitative data, while descriptive statistics will be used to analyze quantitative data. Datasets will be triangulated to support data visualization for partners to inform clinical and operational decision support. Results: As of April 2025, All IPRP sites are engaged, and survey and interview data have been collected and prepared for analysis. The results and deliverableswill inform VA CARF-accredited IPRP characterization, evaluation, and implementation as a learning health system. Conclusions:The results of this evaluation will characterize CARF-accredited IPRPs and identify determinants affecting the implementation of this complex intervention, made up of multiple evidence-based practices. Partner-driven data will inform the state of implementation at each site, and quantitative measures will provide options for collecting standardized outcome measures for continued program evaluation. This operational partner-driven evaluation will inform future efforts for quality improvement to improve veterans' pain management outcomes. This protocol informs the use of a mixed methods approach to evaluate a multimodal intervention (ie, IPRP), made up of multiple evidence-based practices to treat a complex comorbid condition. Future work may include data management infrastructure development and cost evaluations to inform clinical and operational decision-making. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/72091