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Helpful Information For Researchers
The VA maintains numerous national, VISN-level,
and local facility data sources. (See Introduction
to VA Data.) VIReC provides
detailed and summary information about the data sources of particular
relevance
to VA research. Each data source name is a link that will take you directly
to the VIReC information about the data source.
BIRLS
, Beneficiary Identification & Records
Locator System - Death File
The Beneficiary Identification Records Locator
System (BIRLS) is a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Benefits
Administration
(VBA) database containing records of all beneficiaries, including veterans
whose survivors applied for death benefits. An extract of the BIRLS
database is the BIRLS Death File. This file, stored at the Austin Automation
Center (AAC) in SAS format, is available for use by VA investigators
with authorized usage rights . It contains information on veterans
known to be deceased and can be linked to other files by the veteran's
Social Security Number.
DSS, VA Decision Support System
Decision Support System data are in local- or facility-level Production
Databases and in National Data Extract (NDE) SAS datasets. NDE SAS
datasets of financial and clinical data are available for access at
AAC. Clinical NDEs include Radiology, Fact of Lab, Lab Results, and
Pharmacy. Financial NDEs are Discharge File, the inpatient Treating
Specialty File, and the Outpatient File. Support for researchers using
the clinical NDEs is provided by VIReC, while the Health Economics
Resource Center (HERC) provides more information on financial NDEs.
Medicare, VA-Medicare
Data for Research
Medicare data for veterans area available for research to the VA researchers
from VIReC. The data warehoused at the VIReC covers data for calendar
years since 1999. A VA researcher with an approved IRB protocol can
request the data, for which there is no charge.
Medical
SAS Datasets (National Inpatient & Outpatient
Care Data)
The VA datasets most frequently utilized for research are collectively
called Medical SAS Datasets or sometimes National Patient Care Database
(NPCD). All inpatient and outpatient services provided to VHA healthcare
users are captured in various datasets. They are all in SAS format
and reside on the Austin Automation Center mainframe.
NPCD, National Patient Care Database
The National
Patient Care Database (NPCD) is the source data for the VHA Medical
SAS Datasets. NPCD is the VHA's centralized relational
database (a data warehouse) that receives encounter data from VHA clinical
information systems. It is an Oracle database and not directly accessible
to researchers.
NPPD, National Prosthetics
Patient Database
NPPD, developed by the Prosthetic and Sensory
Aids Service Strategic Health Care Group (PSAS), is a database comprising
orthotic, prosthetic
and sensory devices dispensed to veterans nationwide. The NPPD was
originally developed to 1) oversee and monitor the VA Prosthetic Service,
and 2) to provide clinicians with information regarding prosthetic
prescription practices. The NPPD became available to the VA research
community in 2000. (See VIReC Insights
Vol. 2 Num. 3 2001 ***Download Adobe Acrobat***)
PBM, Pharmacy Benefits Management
The PBM Database
is a national database of information about all prescriptions dispensed
within
the VHA System
beginning with fiscal year 1999. Inpatient
intravenous (IV) and unit dose prescription orders dispensed in a VA
facility and outpatient prescription orders filled at a VA Pharmacy
or Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) are extracted monthly
from each Veterans Health Information Systems Technology & Architecture
(VistA) site and loaded into the PBM Database.
VistA,
Veterans Health Information Systems & Technology Architecture
VistA is the main information collection and data management system
at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) healthcare facilities. VistA
files include information on all persons treated at a VA Medical
Center, across the full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient care
provided at that facility, and they provide the most clinical detail
of any VA database.
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