CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 

To a Special Supplement to JGIM 

Topic: Patient Aligned Care Teams in the Department of 

Veterans Affairs: Advancing Implementation of Patient 

Centered Medical Homes 

Submission Deadline: May 1, 2013 

In 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched the implementation of patientcentered medical homes through Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT), an initiative that aims to 

promote patient-centered, team-based care. The purpose of JGIM’s VA PACT Special 

Supplement is to highlight the results of qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the PACT 

approach during its early years. 

The Supplement will consider articles with a national, regional or local evaluation focus. Articles 

may be formative (i.e., directed at providing a basis for PACT improvement) or may assess the 

impacts of a particular aspect of PACT or of a PACT-related innovation. We do not expect 

summative evaluations of the overall impacts of PACT at this early point in its implementation. 

Submissions to the Supplement should provide useful insights for clinicians, educators, 

researchers, administrators, and/or policymakers. We encourage submissions from diverse 

perspectives, including clinician investigators, clinician educators, social scientists, and 

policymakers. The supplement is being sponsored by the VA Office of Patient Care Services. 

Topics of special interest include, but are not limited to: 

Research or evaluation of PACT and/or PACT-related innovations to improve quality of 

care, reduce costs or enhance efficiency 

Assessments of patient perspectives on patient-centeredness and PACT 

Assessments of staff or leadership perspectives on PACT 

Implementation research on PACT progress and features 

Organizational research on systems of care and context in relationship to PACT 

Assessments of PACT care for special populations, including chronically ill, mentally 

ill, homeless, minority, women or other vulnerable veterans 

Education and training in VA primary care settings in the context of PACT

Quality improvement, patient safety and/or outcomes research in the VA primary care 

setting in the context of PACT 
THREE TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED 

1. Original Research: No longer than 3,000 words describing original research including 

secondary data analyses, with frugal use of tables and figures and a structured abstract of no 

more than 300 words. Qualitative research articles may be as long as 4,000 words. 

2. Perspectives: No longer than 2,000 words with an unstructured abstract of up to 200 words. 

Perspectives provide the authors’ views and ideas on issues related to primary care services for 

Veterans, or present considerations that have not been well-addressed in the current literature. 

3. Reviews: No longer than 3,500 words, with a structured abstract of up to 300 words. These 

should be systematic reviews or meta-analyses of important topics related to primary care for 

Veterans. Systematic reviews are expected to adhere to the PRISMA guidelines (http://www.prismastatement.org/). 

All manuscripts must be submitted by Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Papers should be submitted 

following JGIM's Instructions for Authors and online procedures (see the JGIM website, 

http:www.jgimed.org, for further details about submission guidelines and article types). Select 

“PACT” from the drop-down menu. All articles will undergo JGIM’s editorial and peer review 

process. 

Guest Co-Editors:

Elizabeth M. Yano, PhD, MSPH

VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

UCLA School of Public Health

Los Angeles, CA

Elizabeth.yano@va.gov

Sarah L. Krein, PhD, RN

VA Ann Arbor Health Care System

University of Michigan Medical School

Ann Arbor, MI

Sarah.krein@va.gov or skrein@umich.edu

David Hickam, MD

Portland VA Medical Center

Oregon Health and Science University

Portland, OR

David.hickam@va.gov

Lisa V. Rubenstein, MD, MSPH

VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine

Los Angeles, CA

Lisa.rubenstein@va.gov or lisar@rand.org

JGIM Deputy Editors:

Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH

University of Miami

Miller School of Medicine

Miami, FL

oc6@med.miami.edu

Matthew Bair, MD, MS

Roudebush VA Medical Center

University of Indiana Medical School

Indianapolis, IN

Matthew.bair@va.gov