​​​​The SALUTE Program is designed to help healthcare providers and health systems better serve their veteran patients – plus collaborate with and learn from other organizations in the healthcare ecosystem. The program is completely free. You do not need to be an ECRI member or client to participate.

Healthcare providers can view specific personnel who should be involved in program implementation by reviewing the SALUTE Implementation Guide, provided to Honor Roll organizations. Anyone within a healthcare provider institution who wants to improve veteran care is encouraged to download the SALUTE toolkit.

Many organizations that are not healthcare providers could benefit from collaborating with the SALUTE network – veteran service organizations and nonprofits, healthcare associations, insurers/payers, corporations that employ veterans, care navigation companies, case management companies, and more. Read more FAQ’s below for additional information for non-providers.

Download these SALUTE Program tools to get started:

• Webinar: SALUTE Overview and Strategies to Engage Veterans and Providers
• "Be the Expert on You: For Those Who Have Served in the Military" Checklist for Patients*
• “60 Seconds of Listening to Improve Diagnostic Safety for Veterans” Training Slides for Providers
• Veteran Engagement Systems Assessment
• White Paper - “SALUTE: Veterans and Healthcare Providers as Partners in Achieving Equitable Care”

*Some SALUTE tools are derived from a project supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). ECRI values AHRQ's contributions to the original toolkit.

SALUTE Honor Roll organizations receive additional resources, including:

• SALUTE Program Implementation Guide
• Webinar series featuring experts in a variety of topics including military cultural competence, veteran mental health, and toxic exposure
• Digital toolkit with graphics and messaging to share SALUTE on your institutional channels

Once you sign-up to receive SALUTE resources, you’ll receive the toolkit by email. We encourage you to review the contents and consider how the program could be tailored and implemented in your organization. Organizations that choose to commit to implementation, and those that want to learn from and collaborate with other organizations across the healthcare ecosystem, should join the free SALUTE Honor Roll.

Joining this group reflects that your organization has reviewed program material and is committed to customizing and using the resources to improve the veteran healthcare experience. The implementation guide includes detailed recommendations regarding personnel to engage, assessing capabilities, enacting change, and measuring outcomes. ECRI's subject matter experts in Total Systems Safety (TSS) will also be available to answer questions specific to your implementation experience and advise on common challenges.

SALUTE Honor Roll participants will be invited to participate in ongoing learning opportunities, implementation check-ins, webinars, and discussion groups featuring best practice organizations in serving veterans. Join a network of likeminded organizations implementing SALUTE. This is a free service, open to any healthcare entity or organization with a desire to improve veteran health outcomes. To join the Honor Roll, fill out the brief form on the Honor Roll webpage.

Many organizations that are not healthcare providers could benefit from collaborating with the SALUTE network – veteran service organizations and nonprofits, healthcare associations, insurers/payers, corporations that employ veterans, care navigation companies, case management companies, and more. We encourage these non-provider partner organizations to consider:

• Downloading the SALUTE toolkit to familiarize yourself with the resources.
• Share SALUTE with healthcare providers in your network.
• Share the "Be the Expert on YOU" checklist with veterans in your network. This simple but effective tool is designed to help veterans share relevant information with their care provider and advocate for their health.
• Join the Honor Roll to collaborate with healthcare providers implementing SALUTE. Through virtual learning sessions, the Honor Roll network can assess and improve veteran care from different angles and stakeholder points of view across the larger care ecosystem.

To learn more about the program, email SALUTE@ECRI.org.

SALUTE stands for:

• Screen veterans for service-related conditions
• Ask veterans their health goals
• Learn how to manage service-related health risks
• Understand how to listen and improve veteran-provider encounters
• Talk about how a safe diagnostic process supports early diagnosis and treatment
• Engage veterans in using available veteran resources and referral sources
  

It is critical that healthcare leaders take a systems-based approach to improving veteran health outcomes. To learn more about alarming disparities in care for veterans, download the White Paper or visit the SALUTE homepage.

No – it is completely free to download SALUTE resources and to join the SALUTE Honor Roll.​

ECRI's Total System Safety (TSS) is a programmatic approach that aligns components of clinical and safety operations to improve patient care across the continuum. Using ECRI's TSS approach, teams should assess all aspects of the healthcare socio-technical system, to identify system strengths and weaknesses and to decide where to focus and prioritize improvement efforts. The areas of the assessment include components of the health system as shown in the image below.

This approach requires coordination of leadership, frontline staff, and safety, quality, and risk management professionals.

The SALUTE Program is a mechanism to apply the TSS approach to the pervasive challenge of veteran health inequities – to actively engage military veterans, their families, and caregivers as partners in safety.

ECRI created SALUTE to meet an unmet need. Veteran health is a significant health equity issue – one that underpins ECRI's mission to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare worldwide. The global ECRI team is proud to include members who have served in the armed forces. Veterans' voices and input have helped shape the resources in the SALUTE toolkit, in partnership with our patient safety and diagnostic experts. SALUTE is not currently grant-funded.

​In the healthcare landscape, there has been a growing call for renewed action and transformation around eliminating preventable harm. As a Patient Safety Organization (PSO), ECRI is committed to serving healthcare providers in their journey to redesign systems to eliminate preventable harm. As we look toward the next phase of transforming safety, Total Systems Safety (TSS) is the path forward. This path is built with a more holistic methodology anchored in system design, human factors engineering, health equity, and advanced safety science. Positive change is successful only if it is embraced by leaders, team members, patients, and families.

ECRI is an independent, nonprofit organization improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care across all healthcare settings. With a focus on technology evaluation and safety, ECRI is respected and trusted by healthcare leaders and agencies worldwide. ECRI is the only organization worldwide to conduct independent medical device evaluations, with labs located in North America and Asia Pacific. ECRI is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and a federally certified Patient Safety Organization by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ​

Learn more at our About Us page.

For information about program resources and implementation, contact Shannon Davila, Executive Director of ECRI Total Systems Safety, by emailing SALUTE@ECRI.org. For media inquiries, outreach or communications related to promoting SALUTE, contact Yvonne Rhodes, Assistant Director of Strategic Communications, at SALUTE@ECRI.org.  ​​