Abstracts

Rationale: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) established Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECoEs) mandated by Public Law 110-S. 2162 in 2008. One of the missions of the ECOEs was to establish a national system of standardized care for epilepsy patients across all Veteran Affairs Medical Centers. In order to meet the above objective, ECoEs initiated the process of creating an epilepsy registry in the VHA. Methods: A sequential process guided by VHA informatics was adopted. Clinical templates incorporating American Academy of Neurology quality measures and National Institute of Health common data elements were created in the computerized patient record system (CPRS). After required approvals, templates were installed nationally. Templates are currently being used by ECOEs clinicians at 16 sites. The desired items are collected via structured "health factors." Templates are exhaustive; however, no mandatory fields are required. Information is being stored at VHA Corporate Data Warehouse. Results: To this point, data have been collected for more than 1200 patient visits. Over 10% of these were tele-health visits. Detailed data about overall frequency, event type, motor activity, aura, ictal semiology and etiology are available for more than 500 patients. Valuable data for surgery and procedures such as Long Term Video EEG monitoring, MRI, VNS and inter-ictal spect are available. Traumatic brain injury specific data has been filled for more than 100 patients. Statistics are available for drugs, employment, education level, living arrangements and patient education regarding epilepsy. Information is accessible for 124 Quality of life surveys. Conclusions: The VHA epilepsy registry project is one of a kind in the United States. At maturation, valuable information will be collected nationally. Analyses of data will provide policy makers an opportunity to optimally distribute resources. Creation of the registry will standardize quality care across the VHA and allow clinicians to offer the best care. The registry project will improve patient driven outcomes. Data will offer enormous opportunities for advanced research which will be pivotal for the VHA in becoming a national leader in epilepsy care.