The following information provides an overview of the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR) Clinical Portal.
Open Burn Pit Registry: On January 10, 2013, the President signed Public Law (PL 112-260) requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish an open burn pit registry for Veterans who may have been exposed to burn pits in Iraq or Afghanistan (refer to Appendix A for Public Law 112-260). Section 201 of this PL requires the registry to be established no later than one year after the date of enactment of the law, and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense. The law indicates VA may include any information determined necessary to ascertain and monitor the health effects of the exposure of members of the Armed Forces to toxic airborne chemicals and fumes caused by open burn pits. As a result of uncertain exposure data, VA should consider all Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) Veterans as potentially exposed to burn pits and eligible for registry participation.
The law defines an Open Burn Pit as “designated by the Secretary of Defense to be used for disposing solid waste by burning in the outdoor air”. However, open burn pits were used frequently in Iraq and Afghanistan and Department of Defense (DoD) did not require or maintain records for open burn pits prior to 2009. Based on existing registry participation for the Environmental Health Registries (roughly ten percent of prior era Veterans participate in in-person registry exams), VA should anticipate roughly 200,000 of the more than 2 million Service Members (SM) who deployed to request in-person registry examinations over a multi-year period. Any Veteran, regardless of their enrollment status, may request an in-person examination. Presently, it is difficult to estimate how many Veterans without current symptoms will request entry into the registry.
The AHOBPR Registry will help participating Veterans and Servicemembers become more aware of their own potential health issues and help VA better understand the potential health effects of deployment-related environmental exposures.
The Clinical Portal is designed to help Clinicians, Coordinators, Schedulers, and other VA staff review Registrants demographic and questionnaire information. Each Clinical Portal user will also be able to run reports on Registrant, questionnaire, and registry data.
Clinicians will be able to view responses to a Registrant’s completed questionnaire prior to their in-person evaluation. They will be able to view clinically relevant questionnaire responses, health factors, encounter information, and health care information. Clinicians will also be able to search for, set and view Registrant subpopulations.
Coordinators will be able to view contact information and communication preferences of registrants. They will also be able search for, set and view subpopulation flags and administrative flags and have access to reports to help forecast potential upcoming need for examinations.
Schedulers will be able to ensure a questionnaire is completed prior to an in-person examination being scheduled. They will also be able to search for, set and view administrative flags.
The AHOBPR Clinical Portal has three basic user roles.
|
User Role |
Description |
|---|---|
| Care Team |
Clinicians and Schedulers Care Team users are able to view Registrant records, add flags to Registrant records, and run basic reports. |
| Advanced User |
EH and TCM Coordinators Advanced users are able to view Registrant records, add flags to Registrant records, change a Registrant's status, and run basic and advanced reports. |
| Registry Manager |
OPH Staff Registry Mangers can manage user accounts and Registry Flags, update a Registrant's status, view Registrant records, manage message templates, create and send messages, and run advanced reports. |
| Help Desk |
Help Desk users are provided limited access that allows them to troubleshoot issues with the AHOBPR Clinical Portal.
|
Thee AHOBPR Clinical Portal user roles are assigned specific permissions as described in the following table:
| Permissions | Care Team Role | Advanced User Role | Registry Manager Role | Help Desk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Update AHOBPR Clinical Portal User Account Information | X | X | X | X |
| View Questionnaire Responses | X | X | X | X |
| View Registrant Status History | X | X | X | |
| Aging Report | X | X | X | |
| Status Report by State | X | X | X | |
| Participation Report | X | X | ||
| Follow-Up Questions Report | X | X | ||
| Registrant Contact Information Report | X | X | X | |
|
Ad Hoc Report by Individual |
X | X | X | |
| Ad Hoc Report by Location | X | X | X | |
| Export Report Results | X | X | X | |
| Select Sub-Population Flags for an Individual Registrant | X | X | X | |
| Select Admin Flags for an Individual Registrant | X | X | X | |
| Access the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) | X | X | X | |
| Remove an Admin or Subpopulation Flag | X | |||
| Reconsider Registrant Eligibility (Change Status) | X | X | ||
| Eligibility Review Report (For HEC) | X | |||
| Approve/Update/Disable Users | X | |||
| Add/Delete/Disable Sub-Population Flags | X | |||
| Add/Delete/Disable Admin Flags | X | |||
| Add Flags to Multiple Users | X | X | ||
| Create Follow-up Questionnaires | X | |||
| Send Follow-up Questionnaires | X | |||
| Create Messages | X | |||
| Send Messages | X | |||
| My Messages Templates | X | |||
| Send My Messages | X | |||
| Compile all Questionnaire PDFs into a .zip File | X | View Only Access | ||
| Update Non-Verified Names | X | |||
| Access the Queue Monitor | X | |||
| View User Actions Using the Action Tracking Features | X | |||
| Send E-mails to Clinical Portal Users | X |