Dental Encounter System (DES)

<p>Dental Encounter System (DES) is an automated health care application designed to capture critical data about the operations of VA Dental Services. Information on completed procedures is gathered for each patient encounter through the Dental Record Manager software, which is a VA Computerized Patient Record System Class I adjunct application. This DES information is linked and includes encounter date, patient, provider, procedures, diagnosis codes, and additional associated qualifiers. DES productivity is measured using weighted work units known as relative value units (RVUs). RVU values are determined cooperatively by the Dental Coding Committee and Decision Support System (DSS) staff. One RVU is a measure of work effort and represents one minute of the average provider's time (presuming the provider is supported with one dental assistant and one treatment room) and is reported as a value with each procedure reported to DES. DES transactions are sent to the Austin Information Technology Center (AITC) database using standard Health Level Seven (HL7) messaging and the VA Vitria Interface Engine. These batched HL7 messages are parsed at the AITC and placed in a flat database file.</p>