HERO CARE: Better home and community caregiving for Veterans
Official title: Home Excellence Research and Outcomes Center to Advance, Redefine and Evaluate Non-institutional Caregiving (HERO CARE)
Funded at South Texas Veterans Health Care System · NIH-11188974 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will create and spread improved home- and community-based care and support for Veterans and their unpaid caregivers.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | South Texas Veterans Health Care System NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Antonio, United States) |
| Project start | October 1, 2024 |
| Project end | September 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I50HX002767-07 |
| Project ID | NIH-11188974 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Veterans who rely on home- and community-based services and their unpaid family or friend caregivers, particularly those connected to VA care, are the intended participants.
✕Less likely to help
People who live in institutional settings (for example, nursing homes) or who are not served by the VA are less likely to benefit from this VA-focused work.
What this research studies
This center partners with Veterans, family caregivers, VA clinicians, and community providers to design practical care models and common measures for home-based support. They will use shared data and metrics to match services to each Veteran’s needs and follow outcomes over time. The team will implement programs within VA operations and produce tools and guidance that other VA sites can adopt. The goal is to make it easier for caregivers to get support and for Veterans to remain safely at home when possible.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, Veterans may receive services better matched to their needs and caregivers may get clearer, more useful support.
How similar studies have gone: Related caregiver support programs and data-driven care models have shown improvements in parts of the VA and other systems, but a coordinated, VA-wide implementation like this is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
South Texas Veterans Health Care System
San Antonio, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Leykum, Luci — South Texas Veterans Health Care System
- Study coordinator: Leykum, Luci
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.