U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Connected Care
For more than a decade, Reingold has played a pivotal role in supporting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in advancing the use of virtual care services, helping VA expand its virtual health program to serve Veterans nationwide. Our comprehensive, data-driven approach has enabled VA to develop and share virtual care resources and training to upskill health care staff, educate Veterans and their caregivers, and equip them with the knowledge needed to fully adopt digital health solutions. Along the way, we have documented VA’s best practices in virtual care delivery and shared them to benefit the broader health care community.
VA has dramatically expanded telehealth services for Veterans. From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2024, VA saw a 411% increase in Veterans’ overall telehealth use and a 3,508% increase in their use of video services to the home.
I’m so glad that I made the change. … Telehealth is made for our lifestyle.
— Jim Doray, U.S. Navy Veteran
In 2014, Reingold began supporting the VA Office of Connected Care (OCC) in its ambitious goal: driving telehealth adoption to ensure that any Veteran, anywhere, at any time, can access the care they have earned. At the heart of Reingold’s early campaigns — a strategic mix of communications, training, digital experience, and change management initiatives — was the mission to raise awareness of VA virtual care services while highlighting that these innovative technologies are user-friendly, secure, and effective.
This work supports VA’s vast and complex health care ecosystem:
Reingold’s long-standing service has supported a transformational shift in how VA delivers care, helping to usher in a new era of innovative, patient-centered care for Veterans across the nation. VA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic provides undeniable evidence of this transformation: After years of laying the foundation for virtual care delivery, VA was able to fully meet the increase in demand for telehealth that occurred during 2020–2021.
This shift has produced remarkable results:
To help VA achieve this success, Reingold has assembled a multidisciplinary team, including public health specialists, instructional designers, web developers, data analysts, branding and communications experts, and Prosci-certified change management specialists. Together, we’ve partnered with VA to develop and execute a comprehensive strategy, driving the adoption of VA virtual care technologies through a series of tailored campaigns.
To overcome barriers to this large-scale change, Reingold first focused on gaining a deep understanding of VA’s telehealth program. Our research and discovery process involved collaborating with VA to conduct landscape analyses, listening sessions, user testing, and focus groups to uncover the needs, preferences, and concerns of Veterans and VA staff. From these insights, we developed strategies to address key barriers to telehealth adoption, such as concerns about data security and privacy, the reliability of IT infrastructure, and the challenge of learning new digital tools when health outcomes were on the line.
We then worked with VA to develop outreach and engagement campaigns aligned with the insights gained about our target audiences. We spread the word not only through everyday channels our audiences regularly engage with — such as social media, community partners, team meetings, and training — but also through high-impact, niche opportunities, including industry conferences, community festivals, and medical journal articles. Each initiative provided a personalized experience, such as hands-on tech support for less tech-savvy users. Additionally, we identified influential voices to amplify the message that telehealth is effective, safe, and easy to adopt.
As with any change of this magnitude, we recognized that adoption by VA’s doctors, nurses, and other staff would require more than just developing a training curriculum and posting videos online. We also worked to make VA’s training program easier for busy clinicians to access and complete, available to count toward continuing education credits, and friendlier to use on VA’s online learning management system. To help refresh and expand VA’s portfolio of more than 200 online courses, we used the latest adult learning science to ensure that providers could retain what they learned months and years after their training experience was over. We then worked with VA to reinforce learners’ knowledge through live events, tip sheets, user manuals, and short “microlearning” videos.
Throughout the life cycle of our support for VA, Reingold has used data reporting and visualization tools to help VA monitor key performance indicators and make evidence-based decisions about its nationwide initiatives. These tools have helped VA respond quickly to problem areas and opportunities as Veteran needs and the health care landscape continue to change over time.
Reingold has been a vital partner in VA’s transformation of virtual health, helping scale and sustain innovative programs such as My HealtheVet, VA Telehealth, and VA Mobile. Through strategic training, communications, and change management support, we have collaborated with VA to empower health care professionals with the skills and confidence to effectively utilize telehealth tools. These efforts not only enhance the capabilities of VA staff but also help Veterans better understand and make the most of the telehealth services available to them, ensuring care is both accessible and impactful. Together, we are driving a meaningful shift in how VA delivers care, setting the foundation for continued innovation and improved outcomes.
