Confronting Uncertainty and Addressing Urgency for Action Through the Establishment of a VA Long COVID Practice-Based Research Network

Background: Learning health systems (LHS) show promise in making sense of uncertainty and emerging evidence in complex conditions. Long COVID challenges how care is delivered. The Veterans Health Administration has funded a Long COVID Practice-Based Research Network (LC-PBRN) to create an LHS-based infrastructure to promote interdisciplinary collaboration (eg, multidisciplinary clinicians, researchers, operational partners, policymakers, and intra-agency workgroups). Observations: This article describes the LC-PBRN model, outlines associated lessons learned, and provides suggestions to assist with future PBRN implementations. Lessons learned include incorporating veterans' voices to ensure network efforts align with patient needs, developing an interdisciplinary leadership team to foster diverse viewpoints, setting clear expectations and goals with partners, and building engaging relationships to bridge gaps between internal and external partners. Conclusions: The LC-PBRN experience can inform the evolving role of other PBRNs as an integral part of building and sustaining LHS infrastructure.