Is there an incentive for this? Possibly in your next SAA filing?
I have no idea. My chief was blindsided by all of this, none of his employees have ever been involved with the Office of Innovation. I would certainly appreciate suggestions as to how to milk this one for some extra street cred... or extra bonuses and the like....
As an interesting aside, I had two ideas that actually were finalists. One was very much related to a technology-based mental health innovation (in geriatrics, of course) - and it's an idea I am very passionate about. The other idea was a neat idea I had about how to improve CPRS, but it wasn't a particularly clinical or mental health related proposal, and was in a highly technical area (database and MUMPs programming, etc). The technical idea was the one that got selected.... go figure.
Still, it's apparently a huge honor (this is what the Office of Innovation people keep telling me), and it looks like I'm flying out to Nashville next week for "Innovation Boot Camp"!
As an aside, for other VA psychologists out there - I heard that the Innovation office is sitting on top of 35 million dollars that is burning a hole in their pockets, that they wish to "throw at" mental health related projects. I am certainly not giving up on my other idea. The other is that if you're a VA psychologist, you should be involved in the next Employee Innovation Competition. It's basically a viable method of getting funding for projects, outside of typical grant-funding sources. Neat discovery for me.
[edit] I should know this already. What's an SAA filing?
