Description
The Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) is a Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) database
containing records of all beneficiaries, including veterans whose survivors
applied for death benefits. In addition to these applications for VA benefits,
sources of data include veterans discharged from the military service since
March 1973, Medal of Honor recipients, and service members with accounts
for VA education benefits.
An extract of the BIRLS database, which can be accessed by the VHA research
community with appropriate access rights privileges, is the BIRLS Death File.
This file contains information on veterans known to be deceased. The file
and can be linked to other files by the veteran's real or scrambled (VHA
encrypted) social security number. A weekly match process with the Social
Security Administration Death Master File or a notification from a hospital,
cemetery, or relative/acquaintance identifies a veteran's death to be added
to the file . Each January, starting in 2004, this file is refreshed with
a baseline file from the VBA to ensure data accuracy by removal of records
that may have populated the file inadverteantly.
Location
The BIRLS Death File is stored on an IBM Mainframe computer at the Austin Information Technology Center (AITC formerly: CFD; formerly: AAC) in SAS Software format. The table below shows the
dataset information.
SAS Dataset name: MDPPRD.PRO.SAS.VHA.BIRLS.DEATHS(0)
|
Variable
|
Label
|
SAS Format
|
Type
|
Length
|
|
REALSSN
|
Social Security Number
|
SSN11
|
Num
|
8
|
|
SCRSSN
|
Scrambled Social Security Number
|
SSN11
|
Num
|
5
|
|
FNAME
|
First Name
|
|
Char
|
20
|
|
LNAME
|
Last Name
|
|
Char
|
20
|
|
MNAME
|
Middle Name
|
|
Char
|
20
|
|
NAMESUFF
|
Name Suffix
|
|
Char
|
3
|
|
DOD
|
Date of Death
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
CAUSE
|
Cause of Death
|
|
Char
|
7
|
|
DOB
|
Date of Birth
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
BRANCH1
|
Service Branch 1
|
|
Char
|
4
|
|
BRANCH2
|
Service Branch 2
|
|
Char
|
4
|
|
BRANCH3
|
Service Branch 3
|
|
Char
|
4
|
|
ENT_DTE1
|
Duty Entry Date 1
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
ENT_DTE2
|
Duty Entry Date 2
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
ENT_DTE3
|
Duty Entry Date 3
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
REL_DTE1
|
Duty Release Date 1
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
REL_DTE2
|
Duty Release Date 2
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
REL_DTE3
|
Duty Release Date 3
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
SVC_NUM1
|
Service Number 1
|
|
Char
|
9
|
|
SVC_NUM2
|
Service Number 2
|
|
Char
|
9
|
|
SVC_NUM3
|
Service Number 3
|
|
Char
|
9
|
|
XFERDTE1
|
Date of Transfer 1
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
XFERDTE2
|
Date of Transfer 2
|
MMDDYY10
|
Num
|
8
|
|
TYPCLAIM
|
Folder Type Claim
|
|
Char
|
5
|
|
TYPENOD
|
Folder Type NOD
|
|
Char
|
5
|
|
PLOCCLM
|
Prior Claim Location
|
|
Char
|
3
|
|
PLOCNOD
|
Prior NOD Location
|
|
Char
|
3
|
|
PAYEENUM
|
Payee Number
|
|
Char
|
2
|
|
FILE_NUM
|
File Number
|
|
Char
|
9
|
Access
Using the BIRLS Death File and other VA data maintained at the Austin Information Technology Center (AITC formerly: CFD; formerly: AAC) requires a Time Sharing Option (TSO) user account on the Austin
mainframe computer with permission to utilize the particular dataset(s) needed.
User accounts are assigned and monitored by the Automated Customer Registration
System (ACRS - pronounced "akers"). For complete information and instructions,
see the VIReC Toolkit for Users of VA Data Web information on Requesting
Access to VA Data.
Documentation
An issue of VIReC
Insights  entitled "A Primer on Major
U.S. Mortality Databases Used in Health Services Research" discusses
the BIRLS Death File as a source of information on veteran deaths for
research. http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Products/Publications/VirecInsights/Insights-v01n5.pdf
Information on the latest procedure on updating the BIRLS Death File can
be found in the October, 2003 issue of VIReC's Data
Issues Briefs .
Help
VIReC
For additional support, please contact the VIReC
Help Desk:
Email: virec@va.gov
Voice: (708) 202-2413
Fax: (708) 202-2415
Austin Information Technology Center (AITC)
The Austin Information Technology Center (AITC formerly: CFD; formerly: AAC)
Help Desk can be reached at:
Email: ahd@mail.va.gov
Voice: (512) 326-6780
(800) 883-4100 (toll free)
Useful Links
Austin Information Technology Center (AITC formerly: CFD; formerly: AAC)
websites: http://www.aac.va.gov/
SAS Institute, Inc.
http://www.sas.com
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