Encoder Product Suite (EPS)

General Information

Technologies must be operated and maintained in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. More information on the proper use of the TRM can be found on the TRM Proper Use Tab/Section.

Website:	Go to site
Description:	DSS/Nuance Encoder Product Suite (EPS) is a Windows-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) that provides a number of modules that interface with Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) packages. These modules pass billing and coding data to VistA packages including Patient Care Encounter, Patient Treatment File, Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), and Surgery. This technology stores Protected Health Information (PHI) in a Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server database on VA servers. Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) is supported. This technology also stores report data in memory components for the duration of a user`s session. Additionally, the GUI`s have the ability to turn on log files on demand for trouble shooting purposes.
Technology/Standard Usage Requirements:	Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.
Section 508 Information:	This technology has not been assessed by the Section 508 Office. The Implementer of this technology has the responsibility to ensure the version deployed is 508-compliant. Section 508 compliance may be reviewed by the Section 508 Office and appropriate remedial action required if necessary. For additional information or assistance regarding Section 508, please contact the Section 508 Office at Section508@va.gov.
Decision:	View Decisions

Decision Source:	TRM Mgmt Group
Decision Process:	One-VA TRM v22.1
Decision Date:	01/25/2022 at 00:46:11 UTC
Aliases:	Nuance Encoder Product Suite
Introduced By:	SCCM
Vendor Name:	Document Storage Systems, Inc (DSS)

Vendor Release Information

The Vendor Release table provides the known releases for the TRM Technology, obtained from the vendor (or from the release source).

Version	Release Date	Vendor End of Life Date	Vendor Desupport Date
5
5.2
5.3
6.9 - PCE Rec Mgr	08/01/2014
6.9 - VIP Director	08/01/2014
6.9.1 -VIP Workplace	08/01/2014
6.9.1 - ACM	08/01/2014
13.4 - Interlink	08/01/2014
14.2 - Quantim	08/01/2014
20140701 - Scrubber	08/01/2014
2015	01/01/2015
2016Q4	10/31/2016
2017Q4	10/13/2017
2018.x

Current Decision Matrix (06/24/2021)

Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.

The VA Decision Matrix displays the current and future VA IT position regarding different releases of a TRM entry. These decisions are based upon the best information available as of the most current date. The consumer of this information has the responsibility to consult the organizations responsible for the desktop, testing, and/or production environments to ensure that the target version of the technology will be supported. Any major.minor version that is not listed in the VA Decision Matrix is considered unapproved for use.

Legend:

White	Approved: The technology/standard has been approved for use.
Yellow	Approved w/Constraints: The technology/standard can be used within the specified constraints located below the decision matrix in the footnote[1] and on the General tab.
Gray	Unapproved: This technology or standard can be used only if a POA&M review is conducted and signed by the Authorizing Official Designated Representative (AODR) as designated by the Authorizing Official (AO) or designee and based upon a recommendation from the POA&M Compliance Enforcement, has been granted to the project team or organization that wishes to use the technology.
Orange	Divest: VA has decided to divest itself on the use of the technology/standard. As a result, all projects currently utilizing the technology/standard must plan to eliminate their use of the technology/standard. Additional information on when the entry is projected to become unapproved may be found on the Decision tab for the specific entry.
Black	Prohibited: The technology/standard is not (currently) permitted to be used under any circumstances.
Blue	Planning/Evaluation Constraint:The period of time this technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population. If a customer would like to use this technology, please work with your local or Regional OI&T office and contact the appropriate evaluation office displayed in the notes below the decision matrix. The Local or Regional OI&T office should submit an inquiry to the TRM if they require further assistance or if the evaluating office is not listed in the notes below.

Release/Version Information:

VA decisions for specific versions may include a ‘.x’ wildcard, which denotes a decision that pertains to a range of multiple versions.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 7.x would cover any version of 7.(Anything) - 7.(Anything). However, a 7.4.x decision would cover any version of 7.4.(Anything), but would not cover any version of 7.5.x or 7.6.x on the TRM.

VA decisions for specific versions may include ‘+’ symbols; which denotes that the decision for the version specified also includes versions greater than what is specified but is not to exceed or affect previous decimal places.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 12.6.4+ would cover any version that is greater than 12.6.4, but would not exceed the .6 decimal ie: 12.6.401 is ok, 12.6.5 is ok, 12.6.9 is ok, however 12.7.0 or 13.0 is not.

<Past

CY2019

CY2020

CY2021

Future>

Release

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

5

Unapproved

5.2

Unapproved

5.3

Unapproved

6.9 - PCE Rec Mgr

Unapproved

6.9 - VIP Director

Unapproved

6.9.1 -VIP Workplace

Unapproved

6.9.1 - ACM

Unapproved

13.4 - Interlink

Unapproved

14.2 - Quantim

Unapproved

20140701 - Scrubber

Unapproved

2015

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Divest
[4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Unapproved

2016Q4

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Divest
[4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Unapproved

2017Q4

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Divest
[4, 6, 8, 9, 10]

Divest
[4, 6, 8, 10, 11]

Divest
[4, 8, 10, 11, 12]

Unapproved

2018.x

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 8, 9, 10]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 6, 8, 10, 11]

Approved w/Constraints
[4, 8, 10, 11, 12]

Divest
[4, 8, 10, 11, 12]

Decision Constraints


[1]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is protected properly in accordance with VA Handbook 6500 and the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Per VA Handbook 6500, FIPS 140-2 certified encryption must be used to protect and encrypt data in transit and at rest if Personally Identifiable Information/Protected Health Information/VA (PII/PHI/VA) sensitive information is involved. If FIPS 140-2 certified encryption in not used, additional mitigating controls must be documented in an approved System Security Plan (SSP). In addition, the technology must be implemented within the VA production network (not in a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)), unless the specific uses and instances of the technology are approved by the Enterprise Security Change Control Board (ESCCB). All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500. In cases where the technology is used for external connections, a full ESCCB review is required in accordance VA Directive 6004, VA Directive 6517 and VA Directive 6513. Only instances of this technology that have been deployed may continue to use this technology. No further expansion or use of this technology is permitted without a waiver from the Architecture and Engineering Review Board (AERB) and expressed authorization from the Assistant Secretary/Chief Information Officer or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Information and Technology.

[2]	As of April 23, 2015, per the Deputy CIO of Architecture, Strategy and Design (ASD), all technologies in use by the VA require an assessment by the VA Section 508 office. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 is a federal law that sets the guidelines for technology accessibility. A VA Section 508 assessment of this technology has not been completed at the time of publication. Therefore, as of April 23, 2015 only users of this technology who have deployed the technology to the production environment, or have project design and implementation plans approved, may continue to operate this technology. In the case of a project that has implemented, or been approved for a specific site or number of users, and that project needs to expand operations to other sites or to an increased user base, it may do so as long as the project stays on the existing version of the technology that was approved or implemented as of April 22, 2015. Use of this technology in all other cases is prohibited.

[3]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[4]	This product is Class 2 or Class 3 VA-designed and built Local Software OR is a commercially-licensed software product purchased or leased that will run in a VA VISTA environment or integrate with Class 1 National VISTA Software. Presence of this software on the One-VA TRM does not equate to designation as a Class 1 National Software product and MUST NOT be assumed to comply with all VA programming standards, namespacing and interface control agreement standards, data management standards, documentation standards, information assurance standards, security standards and 508 compliance standards. As a Class 2 or Class 3 product, it MUST NOT be assumed to having been released into production through all OI&T product release and sustainment process controls for project management; requirements, development and testing management; and configuration, change, and release management necessary to satisfy OI&T process and product compliance. The OI&T Enterprise Program Management Office does not endorse nor support Class 2 and Class 3 products and does not support data usage or application programmer interfaces (APIs) between Class 1 National Software products and Class 2 or Class 3 products. Class 2 or Class 3 products must restrict their interfaces to Class 1 National Software to use of publicly-supported APIs ONLY. VA Directive 6402, Modifications to Standardized National Software, dictates the policy for Class 2 and Class 3 products and modifications to Class 1 National Software products. Local enhancements to, or modifications of, Class 1 Protected National Software (as listed in the Directive), in part or in whole, is PROHIBITED. Local enhancements to, or modifications of, Non-Protected Class 1 National Software is allowed ONLY with an approved waiver by the Software Modification Waiver Committee (SMWC). Class 2 and Class 3 software that does not modify the Class 1 National Software in any way must still adhere to namespacing and interface control agreement standards as well as National Field Operations Processes.

[5]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

[6]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

[7]	Per the May 5th, 2015 memorandum from the VA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) FIPS 140-2 Validate Full Disk Encryption (FOE) for Data at Rest in Database Management Systems (DBMS) and in accordance with Federal requirements and VA policy, database management must use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of VA information at rest at the application level. If FIPS 140-2 encryption at the application level is not technically possible, FIPS 140-2 compliant full disk encryption (FOE) must be implemented on the hard drive where the DBMS resides. Appropriate access enforcement and physical security control must also be implemented. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500 and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. It is the responsibility of the system owner to work with the local CIO (or designee) and Information Security Officer (ISO) to ensure that a compliant DBMS technology is selected and that if needed, mitigating controls are in place and documented in a System Security Plan (SSP).

[8]	Technology must remain patched and operated in accordance with Federal and Department security policies and guidelines in order to mitigate known and future security vulnerabilities.

[9]	New installations or major expansions of this technology that transmit data over the VA Wide Area Network (WAN) must complete a WAN impact review (contact VA e-mail: [OIT ITOPS SD Engagement Requests]) prior to implementation to ensure proper compliance to VA network design and usage requirements.

[10]	Users must ensure that Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), and Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server are implemented with VA-approved baselines. (refer to the ‘Category’ tab under ‘Runtime Dependencies’)

[11]	New installations or major expansions of this technology that transmit data over the VA Wide Area Network (WAN) must complete a WAN impact review (yourIT Service Portal:[SNOW Service Requests]) prior to implementation to ensure proper compliance to VA network design and usage requirements.

[12]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

Note:

At the time of writing, version 2018.0 is the most current version.

References

The following reference(s) are associated with this entry:
Type	Name	Source	Description
There are no references identified for this entry.

Technology Components

Note: This list may not be complete. No component, listed or unlisted, may be used outside of the technology in which it is released. The usage decision for a component is found in the Decision and Decision Constraints.
Name	Description
Audit Compliance Module (ACM)	The ACM module is the reporting module for outpatient encounters and audits Patient Care Encounter (PCE) and VistA Integrated Billing (IB) modules.
Clintegrity 360 Quantim (Encoder)	The Encoder consists of facility and physician coding, coding compliance, and abstracting (reporting) functions and incorporates ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding standards.
Clintegrity 360 VA Clinical Document Improvement (CDI) Pro	Clintegrity 360 VA Clinical Document Improvement (CDI) Pro module is designed to help improve a facility`s inpatient clinical documentation and facilitates the gathering of pertinent clinical indicators to accurately represent the Veteran`s severity, acuity, and risk of mortality.
Clintegrity 360 Veteran Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) Analyzer	The Clintegrity 360 software module targets inpatient admissions that may need coding revisions or clinical documentation improvements to ensure a patient is assigned to the appropriate VERA Patient Class and Price Group.
Clintegrity Enterprise Claim Scrubber	The Clintegrity Enterprise Claim Scrubber scans bills for errors and outputs a list of possible edits, warnings, and informational messages in order to meet insurance requirements before being filed.
Coding Compliance Module (CCM)	The CCM module is the front-end coding and compliance editing utility for professional fee encounters.
Interlink	Interlink is an interface between the user modules (VIP Workplace, VIP Director, and PCE Record Manager) and the Encoder.
Patient Care Encounter (PCE) Record Manager	The PCE Record Manager is the outpatient coding module and interfaces with VistA PCE data.
VA DocViewer	The VA DocViewer allows end users to view VistA Text Integration Utility (TIU) notes within the Clintegrity Coding Screen GUI.
Veterans Information Portal (VIP) Director	The VIP Director is the inpatient reporting module.
Veterans In-Patient (VIP) Workplace	The VIP Workplace module is a user GUI used to code inpatient data. This module interacts with VistA Patient Transfer File (PTF) data and Clintegrity 360 Quantim.

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Domain Area	Category	Customer Guidance	Category Locked By ELT Date
Collaboration and Electronic Workplace Productivity Software	Accounting and Finance
Health Care Administrative	Health Delivery Support

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Windows Client - Approved w/Constraints
Windows Server - Approved w/Constraints

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

This is a mature technology.
At the time of writing, no National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) vulnerabilities had been reported and no VA Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) bulletins had been issued for the latest versions of this technology.
This technology utilizes built-in Authentication and Authorization (A&A) capabilities.

Adoption Risks

There is limited publicly available technical documentation for this technology.
The potential exists to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and/or VA Sensitive data and proper security standards must be followed in these cases.
Due to the rapid release schedule of this technology, the VA may be unable to update to the most recent patch and may require a deployment model requiring the use of specific versions.
This technology may transmit data over the VA Wide Area Network (WAN).
Clintegrity components contract expires June 30, 2021.

Architectural Benefits

This technology can interface with Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) and Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS).
This technology uses Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server, a VA-preferred database.
This technology is compatible with virtual machines, therefore consistent with the enterprise Server Virtualize First Policy (VAIQ 7266972 08-27-2012).

Architectural Risks

This technology is not portable as it runs only on Windows platforms.

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Decision Constraints

References

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Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

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Technology Components

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

Adoption Risks

Architectural Benefits

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