VistA Web

VistAWeb is a portal from CPRS, the graphical user interface for the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), the electronic health record, used throughout the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical system, known as the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

This portal, in development and being implemented throughout the VA system, will allow healthcare providers at remote VA facilities to view records contained within the VistA electronic health record system at the patient's primary facility.

As originally created, the VA health systems has 21 regional data systems (VISN), each with some differences in data collection and storage. The usage of VistA throughout the VA has helped to standardize records, but there has until recently not been an easy way for accessing records from a different VISN service area.

If a patient travels or is injured or sick and visits a VA facility far from their home, VistAWeb will alllow the physician or other healthcare provider access to the records at that patient's home institution.

Introduction

Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) VistAWeb is an intranet web application used to review remote patient information found in VistA, the Federal Health Information Exchange (FHIE) system, and the Health Data Repository (HDR) databases. To a large extent, VistAWeb mirrors the reports behavior of the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) and Remote Data View (RDV). However, by permitting a more robust and timely retrieval of remote-site patient data, VistAWeb is also an enhancement to CPRS/RDV.

There are three ways to access VistAWeb. VistAWeb can be made available by adding it to the CPRS Tools Menu, and it can be selected as the default method of retrieving data from the Remote Data Available button in CPRS. These two methods are referred to as CPRS-spawned versions of VistAWeb. They are compliant with the Health Level 7 (HL7) Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW) standards and therefore maintain context with the patient selected in CPRS. As a third option, VistAWeb can be accessed in a standalone mode by entering the uniform resource locator (URL) link (https://vistaweb.med.va.gov/) in the Internet Explorer address bar.

The standalone version of VistAWeb is connected to neither CPRS nor the clinical context management application. Standalone VistAWeb serves an important function for users who have been granted special access to multiple sites, such as for National Programs, Veterans Administration (VA) researchers, and others.

Usage for record access following natural disaster

VistAWeb was also made available more broadly, though temporarily, to assist clinical staff with the retrieval of patient information from the sites affected by damage caused by hurricane Katrina. [cite web|title=Use of Electronic Health Records in Disaster Response: The Experience of Department of Veterans Affairs After Hurricane Katrina|url=http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/Supplement_1/S136|publisher=American Journal of Public Health: Vol. 97, Suppl. 1 (April 2007)]

Availability

The VistAWeb package is distributed in the public domain as a module of the VistA software package under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It is therefore available from the VA FTP site, from the VA software distribution office, and in bundled packages. Its capabilities, therefore, can be achieved by a healthcare institution that installs the VistA electronic health record.

ee also

* Electronic health record
* Health informatics
* MUMPS
* Veterans Health Administration
* United States Department of Veterans Affairs

References

External links

*
* (Department of Veterans Affairs)
* (Department of Veterans Affairs)
* (VistA Software Vendor Trade Organization)
*cite web|title=The Pacific Telehealth & Technology Hui|url=http://www.pacifichui.org/
* - Home of the WorldVistA EHR
*
* - a VistA user community
* - Ash Institute News Release
* -- provides a VistA-based EMR package, based in Raleigh, North Carolina
*
* Bidirectional Health Information Exchange protocols of the Department of Veterans Affairs