Varsha G. Vimalananda, MD, MPH
Associate Professor
Boston University School of Medicine
Dept of Medicine
Endocrinology, Diabetes, Nutrition & Weight Management

MD, Drexel University College of Medicine
MPH, University of California, Berkeley

Pronouns: she/her/hers



I am an endocrinologist, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University, and a Physician-Scientist at the Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR) at the VA Bedford Medical Center. I lead research to improve the quality of specialty health care delivery from patient and clinician perspectives.

My projects include work to:
- Develop and validate survey measures of specialty care coordination from patient and clinician perspectives
- Measure coordination of face-to-face care, telehealth, and cross-system care and examine their influences and outcomes in order to guide improvement work
- Identify and apply strategies to improve the efficiency and experience of e-consults and telehealth
- Ensure a clinical perspective in research on telehealth, secure messaging, text messaging, patient portals, and natural language processing to improve care for patients with diabetes

My research draws on my expertise in survey methods, qualitative methods, care coordination, patient-centered care, and endocrinology subspecialty care. I serve as a subject matter expert as a member of the Endocrine Society Clinical Affairs Core Committee and also for the American College of Physicians Council of Subspecialty Societies.

Physician-Scientist
Bedford VA - Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Hosp
Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR)



2017-2022 VA Health Services Research & Development: Career Development Award - Measuring and Improving Specialty Care Coordination in VA
2014-2016 Veterans Affairs: VISN 1 Career Development Award

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

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  1. Anderson E, Rinne ST, Orlander JD, Cutrona SL, Strymish JL, Vimalananda VG. Electronic consultations and economies of scale: a qualitative study of clinician perspectives on scaling up e-consult delivery. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 09 18; 28(10):2165-2175.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34338797; PMCID: PMC8449629; DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocab139;
     
  2. Zocchi MS, Robinson SA, Ash AS, Vimalananda VG, Wolfe HL, Hogan TP, Connolly SL, Stewart MT, Am L, Netherton D, Shimada SL. Patient portal engagement and diabetes management among new portal users in the Veterans Health Administration. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2021 09 18; 28(10):2176-2183.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34339500; PMCID: PMC8449618; DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocab115;
     
  3. Wolfe HL, Reisman JI, Yoon SS, Blosnich JR, Shipherd JC, Vimalananda VG, Rao SR, Hashemi L, Berlowitz D, Goodman M, Livingston NA, Reece SG, Jasuja GK. Validating Data-Driven Methods for Identifying Transgender Individuals in the Veterans Health Administration of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Am J Epidemiol. 2021 09 01; 190(9):1928-1934.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34467408
     
  4. Anderson E, Vimalananda VG, Orlander JD, Cutrona SL, Strymish JL, Bokhour BG, Rinne ST. Implications of Electronic Consultations for Clinician Communication and Relationships: A Qualitative Study. Med Care. 2021 09 01; 59(9):808-815.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34116530; PMCID: PMC8360667; DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001575;
     
  5. Vimalananda VG, Wormwood JB, Qian S, Meterko M, Sitter KE, Fincke BG. The Effect of Clinicians' Personal Acquaintance on Specialty Care Coordination as the Sharing of an EHR Increases. J Ambul Care Manage. 2021 Jul-Sep 01; 44(3):227-236.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34016849
     
  6. Wolfe HL, Reisman JI, Yoon S, Blosnich JR, Shipherd JC, Vimalananda VG, Rao SR, Hashemi L, Berlowitz D, Goodman M, Livingston NA, Reece SG, Jasuja GK. Validating Data-driven Methods to Identify Transgender Individuals in the Veterans Affairs. Am J Epidemiol. 2021 Apr 12.View Related Profiles. PMID: 33843970
     
  7. Yoon SS, Wong DH, Wormwood JB, Reisman JI, Vimalananda VG. Impact of Electronic Consultation on Timeliness and Guideline Concordance of Workups Leading to Thyroid Nodule Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy. Endocr Pract. 2021 Oct; 27(10):1011-1016. PMID: 33766654
     
  8. Vimalananda VG, Meterko M, Solch AK, Qian S, Wormwood JB, Greenlee CM, Smith CD, Fincke BG. Coordination of Care as Experienced by the Specialist: Validation of the CSC-Specialist Survey in the Private Sector and the Effect of a Shared Electronic Health Record. Med Care. 2020 12; 58(12):1051-1058.View Related Profiles. PMID: 32925459
     
  9. Anderson E, Solch AK, Fincke BG, Meterko M, Wormwood JB, Vimalananda VG. Concerns of Primary Care Clinicians Practicing in an Integrated Health System: a Qualitative Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2020 11; 35(11):3218-3226.View Related Profiles. PMID: 32918198; PMCID: PMC7661604; DOI: 10.1007/s11606-020-06193-3;
     
  10. Benzer JK, Gurewich D, Singer SJ, McIntosh NM, Mohr DC, Vimalananda VG, Charns MP. A Mixed Methods Study of the Association of Non-Veterans Affairs Care With Veterans' and Clinicians' Experiences of Care Coordination. Med Care. 2020 08; 58(8):696-702.View Related Profiles. PMID: 32692135
     
Showing 10 of 45 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 44 publications over 11 distinct years, with a maximum of 8 publications in 2020

YearPublications
20102
20111
20133
20142
20153
20162
20173
20186
20197
20208
20217


E-Consults May Be Appropriate Alternative to In-Person Specialist Visit

Medscape 4/14/2020
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Care Coordination
Health Services Research
Survey Methods
Veterans Health
Quality of Health Care
Electronic Consultations (e-consults)
Telehealth
Health Communication

I am available as a project mentor to residents, fellows, or junior faculty who are interested in completing and publishing a manuscript in an area related to my work. I am an endocrinologist and health services researcher with a focus on care coordination. My particular areas of interest are in coordination of care between primary and subspecialty care, and in use of e-consults to improve access to care without the need for a patient visit. I have experience with interview data collection and analysis, secondary data analysis, and survey development and administration. I have successfully mentored several fellows in the publication of manuscripts and welcome the opportunity to work with mentees on writing and publishing.

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):
  • Project Mentor
Contact for Mentoring:
  • Email (see 'Contact Info')

Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR), Bedford VA Medical Center, 200 Springs Road
Bedford MA 01730
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617.638.8530
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