Health Services Research and Development: a tool for hospital management.

Mr. Zamberlan is one of seven major executives in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Services and Research Administration (VHS&RA), directing health care in a five-state region that includes 21 medical centers, 7 outpatient clinics, and 19 veterans outreach centers. As a medical center director in the 1970s, he was one of the earliest advocates for using health services research to support executive decision making and was the first medical center director selected to serve on the VA HSR&D Research Advisory Committee. In this editorial, Mr. Zamberlan outlines his perspective on HSR&D in VA and relates it to the activities of the HSR&D Field Program in the region he directs, which is based at the VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, MI.