Choosing the best VA visit: phone, video, or in-person

Advancing Decisions about Virtual Service Encounters (ADViSE)

NIH-funded research Veterans Health Administration · NIH-11141000

This project gives Veterans and their primary care doctors personalized, easy-to-understand information to help decide whether a phone, video, or in-person visit is best.

Quick facts

Grant typeNIH-funded research
Study typeNIH-funded research
Funding institutionVeterans Health Administration NIH-funded
Lab location1 site (Ann Arbor, United States)
Project IDNIH-11141000 on NIH RePORTER

What this research studies

You would use an interactive tool that summarizes how a phone, video, or in-person visit might affect your care based on your health history and preferences. The team will build the tool using VA health records and input from Veterans and primary care clinicians and will pilot it in VA primary care clinics. The tool will show likely benefits, burdens (like travel time), and other trade-offs to guide shared decisions with your clinician. Researchers will track whether giving this information changes visit choices, access, and patient experience.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Veterans who receive primary care through the VA and face choices between phone, video, or in-person visits, especially those with chronic conditions or mobility or travel limitations, are the ideal candidates.

Not a fit: People who lack access to phone or internet, or whose care always requires in-person procedures, may not benefit from this intervention.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this could help Veterans get care in the format that best fits their needs, improving access, convenience, and overall care experience.

How similar studies have performed: Telehealth has improved access in many prior studies, but using personalized, interactive recommendations to choose the visit type is relatively new and not yet widely tested.

Where this research is happening

Ann Arbor, United States

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.