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.”