Journal of general internal medicine
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Chronic pain is common among Veterans, and rural Veterans commonly struggle obtaining chronic pain care due to large travel distances to the nearest Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center. In 2019, the VA established the Community Care Network (CCN) to provide Veterans access to care in community-based settings, including chronic pain management. ⋯ As the CCN seeks to improve collaboration between VA and community providers, recognition of Veterans' experiences could serve to drive the development of network improvements. Findings reported here suggest that Veterans preferred obtaining care in the CCN once they could navigate administrative complexity to access it. Thus, efforts to streamline VA administrative requirements for initiating CCN care would better support Veterans in meeting their needs in this context.