Web Application Instructions of VistAWeb
Install the VistAWeb application on the server following steps 1-5 below
1 Remove prior versions of VW (and vwContext, if it exists.)
2 Unzip vistaweb_<version>.<date>.zip into the target VW folder.
3 Unzip vistawebcontext_<version>.<date>.zip into the target folder created in step 3 of the one-time BSE configuration mentioned above.
4 Change the <vistaweb>/resources/xml/log4net.xml file to add the login ID and password from step 2 above. Strip out the text “Provider=SQLOLEDB” from the connection string.
5 Change the <vistawebcontext>/resources/xml/log4net.xml to add the login ID and password from step 2 above. Strip out the text “Provider=SQLOLEDB” from the connection string.
6 Change the <vistaweb>/web.config file
a. Change userActivity.connectionString to specify the SQL Server database.
b. Change version.useFullVersion to “false”.
c. Change allowViewLog to “false”.
d. Change excludeChemHem to “true”.
7 Change the <vistawebcontext>/web.config file to specify the SQL Server database (set it to the same value as what’s in 6.a.)
8 For Production purposes, a domain address was established for VistAWeb (https://vistaweb.med.va.gov/), with VistAWeb configured as its own website.
9 Set the default VistAWeb content page to “loginframeset.htm.”
10 Grant “Write” permission to the NETWORK SERVICE user on the Windows 2003 server to the folder ~/resources/images/temp.
11 Start the vistawebcontext application pool and the vistaweb web application, then start the vistaweb application pool.
12 Start the vistawebcontext web application, then start the vistaweb application.
13 Copy vhasites.xml file from the prior VistAWeb instance into <vistaweb>/resources/xml.
14 Start <vistawebcontext>
15 Start <vistaweb>
The configuration in steps 4 – 7 can be done by using the script and properties file provided in Appendix B.
SQL Server Database Schema Instructions
A database schema is required for maintaining the VistAWeb log files and identity of sites from which a user can perform patient lookups. Appendix A contains the database specifications (written for SQL Server 2000). For security purposes, the user account and password that is needed by the VistAWeb application will not be included in this document.
1. Create a database called EMR, or something similar.
2. Run the SQL scripts in Appendix A.
3. Add the user account used by VistAWeb (contact the VA Service Desk for information regarding the account/password at 1-888-596-4357 or by e-mail at VASD@va.gov.)
4. Grant the provided user account “dbowner” rights to the EMR database.
VistA Security
VistAWeb can optionally handle VistA security similarly to the way CPRS does, by requiring the user to have CPRS patient selection and/or CPRS GUI tab access in order to gain access to patient reports through VistAWeb. This setup is global in nature; that is, if set up, all users would have to have one or both of these settings in order to be able to login to VistAWeb.
You can see a user’s CPRS tabs and patient selection settings in the user management area of VistA FileMan.
Posted in: Others | Tags:Introduction of VistAWeb
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.
Note: Some links found in this installation guide go to sites or pages found on the VA intranet. These sites or pages are not accessible from outside the VA network.
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. 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.
Refer to the VistAWeb User Manual for a detailed description on access and use of VistAWeb from CPRS and as a standalone application process.
Assumptions
This installation guide is intended for system administrators (specifically, web administrators) who are assumed to possess the technical knowledge of how to configure and interact with application servers. This document also assumes the necessary security hardening guidelines have already been implemented. (Refer to the Office of Cyber and Information Security link below for information pertaining to security requirements.)
https://vaww.infoprotection.va.gov/portal/server.pt?open=17&objID=4283&DirMode=1&parentname=Dir&parentid=3&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true
VistAWeb is not installed at each local site; it is installed on an application server. A link to the application may be incorporated into the existing CPRS Tools Menu at the local site. The instructions provided in this guide identify the required configuration settings for VistAWeb use from the CPRS Tools Menu. Additional reference material may be viewed in the CPRS GUI Technical Manual by selecting the following link:
http://www.va.gov/vdl/documents/Clinical/Comp_Patient_Recrd_Sys_(CPRS)/cprsguitm.pdf
Posted in: Others | Tags:Standalone Application Process
· User launches the web browser application (e.g., Internet Explorer).
· User enters the URL of VistAWeb (https://vistaweb.med.va.gov) in the address bar and presses the Enter key or clicks the mouse cursor on the “Go” button adjacent to the address bar.
· VistAWeb loads into the user’s web browser.
· User must select a login site link on the left of the display screen by clicking the mouse cursor on the desired site where the user has access.
· User is provided with the VistA Login screen.
· User enters his or her CPRS access/verify codes in the spaces provided and presses the Enter key or clicks the mouse cursor on the Login button.
· Once the user’s account is authenticated against CPRS, the user’s remote site patient selection permissions are verified from a SQL Server database. The permissible sites for the user to choose patients from are then displayed.
· User must select a site from which to select a patient if selecting a site other than his or her default site.
· User is presented a Patient Selection screen for entering the desired patient name (last name, comma, first name, and middle initial), portion of name, first initial of last name and last 4 digits of Social Security number, similar to patient selection in CPRS. User then clicks the mouse cursor on the “Find” button (or presses the Enter key) to find a list of patients matching the criteria. With the appropriate patient highlighted, user then clicks on OK (or presses the Enter key).
· The Sites and Notices screen is displayed, which identifies the sites where the patient has been seen.
· User can look at different elements of the patient record by selecting a desired report from the list of available reports on the left side of the displayed screen.
By default, a VistAWeb user is permitted to select patients that are in the local VistA system where the user logs in. VistAWeb will retrieve data for these patients from all sites where the patients have visited. Some users (researchers or referral coordinators, for example) may need to select patients that are not in the local VistA. These users must be granted Special User access. Special User access can be granted for one site in addition to the login site, several sites, an entire VISN, or all sites nationally. The process for requesting special user permission is documented in the VistAWeb User Manual.
Note that regardless of which site is selected for a patient (local or remote), once a patient has been selected, VistAWeb uses the Master Patient Index (MPI) at the selected site to determine at what other sites the patient has remote data and establishes the connections to each of those sites to retrieve data requested by the user.
Note: Users who regularly only use the standalone version of VistAWeb will be required to update their verify codes periodically, just as they would if logging into CPRS. When this happens, the login screen will display the message, “User must enter a new Verify code at this time.”
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