The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pain Coach mobile application (app) for Care Teams is a helpful tool for tracking a patient’s pain management journey. From the app you will be able to view a patient’s Daily Pain Diary and Monthly Check-ins and monitor his/her progress managing pain with tools and treatments. The app provides helpful tables and graphs of changes in a patient’s pain level over time and rates if they are improving, staying the same or declining.

In order to use the Pain Coach App for Care Teams, you must be a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provider and be logged into the Single Sign-On Internal (SSOi) service. To log on with SSOi, you must select your credential service provider (CSP) and authenticate that service. Available methods are PIV authentication, VA Active Directory (username/password) authentication and Integrated Windows Authentication. More information can be found on the Access VA website.

The app allows you to track the reports patients have submitted regarding their pain treatments, tools they are using, health impacts and descriptions of their pain.

This app is available for iOS, Android and Windows operating systems, and is supported by these internet browsers:

1. Internet Explorer 11 and higher
2. Safari 7 and higher

You can access the Pain Coach App either directly or through the VA Launchpad. The VA Launchpad contains links to all VA apps that access information from VistA. By signing into the VA Launchpad once with your VistA credentials, you can access multiple apps without signing into each app separately. If you are accessing the Pain Coach App through the VA Launchpad and have already signed into another app, you will not need to re-enter your credentials.

Enter your VistA Username to log in, then enter your VistA Password. Begin typing in a VA hospital location. A list of matching facilities will appear in a drop-down list. Tap your VA facility. Tap Sign In. When you first use the Pain Coach App, you will see an End User License Agreement (EULA). If you agree to the terms, tap Accept to proceed to the Pain Coach App.

You can search for a patient by tapping the Menu (three-line icon in upper right corner), then tapping Search for a Patient from the drop-down menu. A pop-up window will appear with the patient’s information. If this is the correct patient, tap Select Patient to view their completed pain reports on the Progress Reports screen.

From the Progress Reports screen, tap on the reports you would like to see:

• Completed Monthly Check-in – View scores from a patient’s past monthly check-in responses or tap on a date to see a full report. As part of the monthly check in, a patient will rate from a scale of 1 to 10 his/her pain intensity, pain interference, sleep quality, depression and overall status.
• Monthly Check-in Graph – View graphs or tables of a patient’s monthly check-in scores over time.
• Completed Pain Diary Entries – View a history of a patient’s completed diary entries or tap a date to see a full report. As part of his/her diary entry a patient will rate his/her pain by choosing a score of 1 to 10 and indicate the tools and any additional treatments they have used. Patients can also track health impacts and write descriptions of their daily pain in these reports.
• Pain Diary Graph – View graphs or tables of a patient’s Daily Pain Diary scores over time.

The app automatically compares the responses a patient has submitted to their Daily Pain Dairy and Monthly Check-in to track patient progress.

To move easily between the reports, tap Select Report in the upper right corner and a drop-down menu will appear. Tap the report you would like to access.

A Monthly Check-in Graph includes graphs of pain intensity, pain interference, sleep quality and depression.

Additional information about other available VA apps can be found on mobile.va.gov/appstore as well as mobile.va.gov.

More resources, such as a User Manual, Quick Start Guide and Slideshow can be found on mobile.va.gov/appstore, and search for the app to access the resources.

If you need assistance with the Pain Coach App, dial 1-844-482-6624 to speak with a VA representative. The Help Desk is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT. For TTY assistance, dial 711.

If you feel your information may have been compromised, contact your local VA facility to get contact information for your Privacy Officer. To locate your local VA facility, visit VA’s Facility Locator: http://www.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp. NOTE: You should never use this app in an emergency. If you encounter an emergency, call your local medical center or dial 911 immediately.

More information about the Single Sign-On Internal (SSOi) service can be found on https://access.va.gov/accessva/about#updatedcred.