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Database & Methods Cyberseminar Series
Navigating the VA Data Landscape
VIReC's Database & Methods Series is an introductory guide to VA data and information systems. Sessions are designed to help VA researchers understand common VA data sources and how they are used in research and quality improvement. This series is suitable for all levels.
Current Schedule
VIReC’s Database & Methods Cyberseminar Series is updated yearly to address changes in the data environment. It begins with an introduction to VIReC and VA databases, an overview of resources for using these data, and information about data access and request processes. Presenters will then discuss a variety of data topics and sources, describing how VA data can be applied to research and quality improvement questions. Select the Special Topics Archive tab above to explore cyberseminars from previous years on topics such as comorbidities, laboratory data and more.
Cyberseminars are held the first Monday of the month at 1:00 PM Eastern, with the exception of federal holidays.
| Session | Upcoming | Archived |
|---|---|---|
| Meet VIReC: The Researcher's Guide to VA Data Learn about VIReC, a key resource for navigating VA’s complex data landscape and an advocate for data user needs. This session provides an overview of VIReC activities, products, and services along with a tour of the Center's websites and online resources. Presented by: Souden, M |
- |
View 10/3/22 |
| Navigating VA Data Sources: An Overview of Commonly Used Databases Introduces common VA data sources and resources for using them effectively. Presented by: Souden, M |
- |
View 11/7/22 |
| Navigating VA Data Access: An Overview of the Process for Requesting Permission to Use VA Data Provides guidance on determining the data necessary for research and operations projects and describes the framework for requesting access to commonly used VA data sources, including where to find specific instructions for the most frequently analyzed VA data sources. Presented by: Kok, L |
- |
View 12/5/22 |
| Geriatrics and Extended Care Data Analysis Center Residential History File (GECDAC RHF) This presentation will provide concepts of the Residential History File (RHF) and how it is used in analyses. Presented by: Intrator, O and Makineni, R |
- |
View 1/9/23 |
| Overview of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Spinal Cord Injuries & Disorders Registry (VHA SCIDR) This session introduces the VHA SCIDR as the SCI/D population case-identification platform and how to connect the data set to all Veterans' VHA healthcare data. Presented by: Sippel, J; Eberhart, A; Smith, B |
- | View 2/6/23 |
| VHA Death Ascertainment File (DAF) and Other Data Sources for Mortality Ascertainment The presentation will describe the new VHA Death Ascertainment File and summarize other sources available for death ascertainment. Presented by: Arnold, N |
- |
View 3/6/23 |
| Assessing Race and Ethnicity in VA Data Describes how to locate race and ethnicity data and assess its quality in VA and Medicare. Presented by: Mor, M |
- |
View 4/3/23 |
| An Introduction to VA Pharmacy Data: Sources and Uses for Medication Information Explores commonly used data sources for evaluating Veterans’ use of medications. Presented by: Anderson, T and Paris, B |
- |
View 5/1/23 |
| VHA Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW): A Conceptual Overview This seminar summarizes terms and concepts associated with relational databases and provides an overview of the VHA’s Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) as it exists in 2023. Presented by: Gonsoulin, M |
- |
View 5/22/23 |
| Centralized Interactive Phenomics Resource (CIPHER): Overview and Demonstration of the VA Phenomics Library Overview and updates from CIPHER, the VA Phenomics Library. CIPHER is a catalog and knowledge-sharing platform of electronic health record (EHR) based phenomics metadata and annotations that aims to optimize Veterans' health data, drive collaborative research and improve clinical operations. Presented by: Cho, K and Honerlaw, J |
Register 6/5/23 |
View 1/10/22 |
| Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV) and Research Part 1: Getting Started This session is the first of a two-part series describing what is needed to begin using JLV for research, including an interactive presentation on setting up a JLV workspace for basic research tasks. Presented by: Lane, A and Omizo, R |
Register 7/10/23 |
View 7/11/22 |
| Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV) and Research Part 2: Exploring VistA and Cerner Based Data The second session of this two-part series demonstrates how Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV) can be used for common research tasks. Presented by: Lane, A and Omizo, R |
Register 7/24/23 |
View 7/25/22 |
| Updates on VA-Purchased Community Care Data The second session of this two-part series explores advanced uses of JLV to uncover clinical data.. Presented by: Beilstein-Wedel, E; Labo, M; Vanneman, M; and Wagner, T |
- |
View 9/12/22 |
Special Topics Archive
The Database & Methods Cyberseminar Archive lists prior sessions. It features presentations from the current year’s schedule along with those from previous years. Sessions are point-in-time. Information is current and accurate for the year in which the information was presented.
Select a title below to access the recording, handout, and transcript for that session.
Comorbidity
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/9/2019 | Advanced Comorbidity Measures Takes a deep dive into comorbidity measures for a more advanced audience. Prerequisite: Comorbidity Measures Using VA & CMS Data introduces approaches to and issues in assessing comorbidity using VA and Medicare claims data. |
Comorbidity | Hynes, D |
| 9/10/2018 | Comorbidity Measures Using VA & CMS Data Provides overview of current approaches to and issues in assessing comorbidity using VA and Medicare claims data. Also describes efforts to improve measurement of comorbidity using claims data. |
Comorbidity | Hynes, D |
Electronic Health Record Databases & Tools, e.g. JLV
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/15/2021 | Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV) and Research Part 2: A Deeper Look An interactive presentation covering basic use of JLV in the research setting, common use cases, optimizing EHR search and workspaces, and troubleshooting JLV issues. Includes a live demonstration and Q&A session. |
JLV, EHR | Lane, A Omizo, R |
| 3/1/2021 | Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV) and Research, Part 1: Getting Started An interactive presentation covering basic use of JLV in the research setting, common use cases, optimizing EHR search and workspaces, and troubleshooting JLV issues. Includes a live demonstration and Q&A session. |
JLV, EHR | Lane, A Omizo, R |
| 6/4/2018 | Working with EHR Data Using VistAWeb, VINCI ChartReview Tool, and Joint Legacy Viewer Describes EHR data and chart review methods, identifies strategies and considerations for conducting chart review, and discusses available tools to support chart review activities. |
EHR | Denhalter, D Hastings, S Mahanna, E |
| 7/10/2017 | Chart Review Using National EHR Tools Explains benefits of conducting chart review, presents research studies that used chart review methodology, and describes steps for developing a chart review manual. Compares VA tools for accessing EHR data and provides resources related to the VA’s transition to JLV. |
EHR | Williams, L |
Health Factors
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/12/2015 | Working with the CDW Health Factors Domain Uses a case study based on functional measures data to describe how to identify, extract, and clean CDW Health Factors data, and the challenges and opportunities of using these data. |
CDW, Health Factors |
Barnett, P Brown, R |
Laboratory & Pharmacy Data
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/3/2021 | An Introduction to VA Pharmacy Data: Sources and Uses for Medication Information Explores the content and structure of pharmacy datasets in the VA. |
Pharmacy Datasets |
Thorpe, J Paris, B |
| 6/3/2019 | Diagnoses, Labs, and Meds, Oh My! Using CDW to Define a Study Cohort by Multiple Criteria Demonstrates how to identify studssssy cohort based on occurrence of condition-relevant ICD-9/10 codes, utilization of condition-relevant medication, and condition-relevant lab results. |
CDW Lab Data |
Richardson, P Royse, K |
| 7/9/2018 | Phenotyping Physiologic Measurement of Lung Function in the VA EHR Using Automated Tools Describes the challenges to extracting pulmonary function test (PFT) data from large EHR-based data sources, and the benefits and limitations of automatic tools that extract PFT values from the EHR. |
Phenotyping, EHR | Akgün, K |
| 5/7/2018 | Pharmacoepidemiological Designs: Using CDW Lab Data and Drug Data for Effectiveness Research Provides overview of laboratory data in the CDW and reviews how to find drug information, including date of fill, number of pills per day, strength of pill, refill data, and exposure window. |
CDW, Lab Data, Pharmacy Data |
Hung, A |
| 9/11/2017 | Using CDW Microbiology and Pharmacy Data in Outcomes Research Introduces microbiology- and pharmacy-related domains in CDW, describes data limitations, and shares samples of how specific data elements can be used for research questions. |
CDW, Microbiology, Pharmacy | Evans, C Jones, M |
| 5/2/2016 | Clinical Epidemiology Research using National MCA and CDW Laboratory Data: Perspectives from the Frontline Presents general description of MCA and CDW laboratory datasets, including strengths and limitations; reviews "best practices" of using VA laboratory data; discusses examples of recent clinical epidemiology research. |
CDW, Lab Data |
Al-Aly, Z Bowe, B Xie,Y |
| 4/6/2015 | Blood pressure measurements and their application for outcomes research in the CDW Reviews blood pressure measurement variable in CDW, including location, file structure, ancillary variables, and availability; examines aspects of analyzing blood pressure; discusses VA studies examining blood pressure. |
CDW, Lab Data |
Kovesdy, C |
Medicare
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/7/2020 | Measuring Veterans’ Medicare Health Services Provides an overview of Medicare data available to VA researchers and describe how these data can be used to identify Veterans’ use of health services paid by Medicare. |
Medicare Data Veterans |
de Groot, K |
| 2/7/2022 | Overview of CMS & USRDS data from VIReC Provides an overview of Medicare data available to VA researchers and describes how these data can be used to identify Veterans’ use of health services paid by Medicare. |
Medicare USRDS Veterans |
de Groot, K |
Mental Health
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/12/2016 | A Practical Guide to Using the CDW Mental Health Domain Introduces CDW Mental Health domain and data elements available, provides examples of how specific data elements, such as the AUDIT-C and BAM, have been used in research, and addresses potential limitations of these data. |
CDW, Mental Health |
Hawkins, E Malte, C |
Outpatient
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2/6/2017 | Assessing Outpatient Utilization with VA Data |
CDW,Outpatient | Hynes, D |
Race/Ethnicity
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4/5/2021 | Assessing Race and Ethnicity in VA Data
Describes how to locate race and ethnicity data and assess its quality in VA and Medicare. |
Race,Medicare | Mor, M |
USVETS
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/6/2019 | United States Veterans Eligibility Trends and Statistics: A New Data Source with Socioeconomic Variables Introduces USVETS database including addressing its accuracy, completeness, consistency, validity, and timeliness; defines available socioeconomic data; and describes process to obtain access to USVETS. |
USVETS | Bhargava, A Hauser, G |
VA REDCap
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/5/2018 | VA REDCap 101 Describes benefits and limitations of VA REDCap, reviews basic and advanced features of VA REDCap, and provides additional resources for training and support. |
VA REDCap, Primary Data Collection | Paris, B |
Vital Status/Mortality
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6/7/2021 | Ascertaining Veterans’ Vital Status: Data Sources for Mortality Ascertainment and Cause of Death Describe the components of the VA Vital Status Files and how they can be used for research purposes. Also discusses other death databases such as the National Death Index and state death certificates. |
Mortality, NDI, Vital Status | Maynard, C |
| 3/7/2022 | Ascertaining Veterans’ Vital Status: Data Sources for Mortality Ascertainment and Cause of Death Identifies data sources for Veteran vital status ascertainment and describes the strengths and limitations of these data sources for mortality ascertainment |
Mortality, VSF, Vital Status | Maynard, C |
Weight Data
| Date | Title | Key Topic(s) | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4/6/2020 | WEIGHT WEIGHT…DO TELL ME!: Comparing algorithms to process and clean CDW weight data Compares algorithms identified from a systematic literature review used to process and clean administrative (CDW) weight data, leading to practical recommendations. |
CDW, Weight Data |
Burns, J Damschroder, L Evans, R Wiitala, W |
