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Veterans Administration Trip Manifest Import

If you have a trip manifest in the format used by the Veterans Administration, you can import it straight onto your dispatch board.

AngelTrack can import a trip manifest spreadsheet provided by the Veterans Administration, or provided by any trip broker who can emit a trip manifest in the VA format.

File Format

The input file provided to AngelTrack must be a .CSV.

Both the Microsoft Excel and the Google Sheets spreadsheet applications can export a spreadsheet in this format, suitable for import into AngelTrack.

Each .CSV file can contain up to 1000 trips -- one per line. Each line of the .CSV can contain up to 3000 characters.

Sample .CSV File

Here is a sample CSV file provided by the Veterans Administration, which AngelTrack can accurately scrape and import:

Sample VA Trip Manifest CSV

The first row of the .CSV file must be a header row, listing all of its columns by name exactly, though they can be in any order.

The following data columns are mandatory:

  • Trip ID
  • Passenger
  • Date Of Birth
  • Mobility
  • Estimated Pickup Time, or Earliest Departure Time
  • Latest Arrival Time, or Appointment Time
  • Pickup Address
  • Dropoff Address
  • Contract Number

The following additional columns are normally present in a VA trip manifest, and if present will be scraped as appropriate:

  • Phone Number
  • Extra
  • Comments
  • VA Notes
  • Actual Cost

The following additional columns are normally present in a VA trip manifest, but are NOT used during import:

  • Vendor Trip ID
  • Trip Type
  • Passenger Member ID
  • Buffer Minutes
  • Estimated Distance Miles
  • Third Party
  • Contract Name
  • Status
  • Start Odometer
  • End Odometer
  • Start Time
  • End Time
  • Loaded Mileage
  • Wait Time Minutes
  • Unloaded Mileage
  • Invoice Number
  • Invoice Date

All other columns are ignored.

The "Mobility" column contains the service level requested. It is freetext and so AngelTrack will try to recognize what service is being asked for. For most reliable data recognition, use one of the AngelTrack standard names for transport services:

  • Car

  • Wheelchair

  • Gurney

  • BLS

  • ALS

  • MICU

If recognition fails, then BLS is assumed.

Import Process

You can import .CSV trip data at any time.

You must have Administrator or Dispatcher privileges in AngelTrack.

The importer is located under the "Calls" menu on the Dispatch Home page. As the importer runs, it will generate a short report showing each trip it found in the .CSV and its import disposition within AngelTrack.

The importer will automatically set the activation time of each trip to be thirty minutes prior to the time of pickup.

Patient Records

The importer requires each trip to include its patient full name (in "Passenger") and DOB (in "Date Of Birth"). It also optionally accepts the patient's VA/broker record ID (in "Passenger Member ID") which -- if not blank -- must contain an unchanging value unique to that person.

AngelTrack matches the specified patient data to its own patient records using these fields:

  • Last name

  • First name

  • Date of Birth

  • Barcode (for matching to the patient's VA/broker record ID if any)

If a matching patient record is found, it will be attached to the dispatch record created by the imported trip; otherwise, a new patient record will be created and attached.

As noted, the patient's VA/broker record ID if any is stored by AngelTrack in the patient's Barcode field, in case you need to later match up that person or their charts back to the VA's or broker's records.

Timezone Conversion

The date/time fields in the input CSV can be practically any standard format, and AngelTrack will parse them. The optimal format for data exchange is military-style, sometimes called ISO-8601, like these examples:

  • yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

  • yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss

...because they prevent any ambiguity; however, AngelTrack can parse many other formats, so whatever you already have will probably work.

If your date/time columns include a timezone offset, like this:

  • yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss-00:00

  • 2026-06-04 16:30:00-06:00

...then AngelTrack will convert them to your (the provider's) local time, as usual.

Whereas if your date/time columns do NOT include a timezone offset, then AngelTrack will assume they are already local time to the provider.

Re-Import

You can import the same .CSV again, or the same trip again from a different .CSV, without breaking anything. AngelTrack will auto-match every imported trip to its dispatch records via the "Trip ID" provided by the VA (or by the trip broker).

For this reason, the Trip ID column in every .CSV must contain a unique trip identifier that is never repeated on other trips.

The Trip ID column should NOT contain the associated AngelTrack dispatch ID. It must contain an identifier that is unique within the sending system.

During a re-import, the importer will automatically skip any call where the matching dispatch record in AngelTrack has already closed (completed or cancelled).

Trip Identifier Linkage

AngelTrack internally links the VA's (or broker's) Trip ID to the associated dispatch ID in AngelTrack's database.

It also puts the Trip ID into the "eResponse.03" field, which is shown on the Followup panel.

AngelTrack places the Contract Number into the "eResponse.04" field, likewise on the Followup panel, and also in a !bang comment in the dispatch's Billing Notes field so that it will automatically appear in invoices.

CADAPI.256x192If you want to review all trips imported via this integration, use the Third Party Trip Log, accessible via a link on the API  Configuration page under Settings.

Bill-To Facility

On the importer page, you can optionally select a bill-to facility. If you do, then all trips imported from the .CSV file will be marked as billable to that facility.

Probably that will be your VA contract, but it can be any facility record in your system.

Setting a bill-to facility will allow AngelTrack's invoicing system to automatically assemble all the completed trips into an invoice for the facility.

If the selected bill-to facility matches any imported trip's pickup address or dropoff address, then AngelTrack will automatically bind that facility record to the run ticket, in the usual way.

Bill-To Affiliate

On the importer page, you can optionally select a bill-to affiliate. If you do, then all trips imported from the .CSV file will be marked as billable to that affiliate. Make sure the affiliate's contract prices are configured in AngelTrack.

To learn more about billable affiliates, please visit the Affiliates Guide.

Facility Record Linkages

AngelTrack cannot automatically link facility records to an imported trip's origin or destination, because the VA trip manifest file format does not include location names; it only includes street addresses, which are not sufficient for facility record lookup because multiple facilities could have the same street address.

That said, if you specify a Bill-To Facility, then AngelTrack will auto-link it as the origin or destination whenever it sees a street-address match.

Automatic Tagging

If you want AngelTrack to automatically apply a tag to all dispatches imported using this interface, then create a tag named "VA".

AngelTrack will also apply any tags that are marked ★Default.

To learn more about tags, please visit the Tags Guide.

Recurrences and Cancellations

There is no way to import a recurring dispatch via this interface. Recurrence might be mentioned in the comments field, but a dispatcher must configure it manually after the trip is imported.

Likewise cancellations. If the sender cancels a trip previously imported, then a dispatcher must manually cancel the dispatch in AngelTrack.

Report Builder Support

All of the datafields associated with imported VA trip manifests are exposed in Report Builder's various datasets, and are freely available in the Data Hub.

The VA/broker trip IDs stored in eResponse.03, and contract numbers stored in eResponse.04, are exposed by Report Builder in the Dispatches-Uploads dataset.