G. Decision Support System (DSS)
8. How do I write a tool kit report to extract data from the DSS production system?
The computer screen copies below are an example on how to write a tool kit report to extract VA utilization and cost data from the DSS production system. The objective of these extractions is to examine the length of stay, DRG, death indicator, and inpatient cost for a cohort who received heart disease treatment in a medical center from Fiscal Years1997 and 1998.
First Screen (PF4/FIELDS)The first screen of (PF4/FIELDS) is called "Fields". Fields display rows and columns for defining a report for a specific goal. Rows allow an analyst to break out the patient group into subgroups. This allows an analyst to specify the field on which a total will be provided when the report is run. Columns allow an analyst to select any additional fields to be included on the report. They let an analyst know what he wants to know about the defined subgroup. For this report, the encounter number was a row field. Length of stay, act total cost, DRG, principle diagnosis, and discharge disposition were column fields. Furthermore, as shown in this report, Fields also included other tasks, such as defining the extract types, the print format, and the order of fields.
The second screen of this attachment (PF6/RUN) shows how to set patient qualifications. I restricted the time frames for this extraction from fiscal year 1997 to 1998 and the fiscal period from January to December. Also, I defined the study cohort on inpatient patients when I used letter "I" as an Inout Code.
The third screen of this attachment (PF10/QUALIFY) enabled me to enter additional qualification criteria into my report. Since the study cohort were those patients who received inpatient heart diseases treatments, I used 410.00 to 410.99 as the range as this is the ICD-9 code range for this type of treatment. In this screen, an analyst should be able to see how many patients qualify for the setting criteria.
The fourth screen (PR6/TM FRAMES) was a summary of qualified patients and the time frames I had set before. From this screen, I choose PF6 (Run Now) to run the report.
The fifth screen showed how to select print destination. I used "*" as the destination because I wanted to read the report from my computer screen. I could also define the destination as "RJ640" if I wanted to read my report from local network printer server.
The last screen showed a part of report that contained all variables that I needed for the study. The encounter number in this report had 16 digits-the first 9 digits were scrambled social security numbers and then other 6 digits were discharge date. The last digit (I) represented the inpatient care. For this report, I formatted my extract type as PC shown in the first screen of this attachment. This enabled me to export this report from a network printer server to Microsoft Excel as a spreadsheet data. Note - this screen shows actual Social Security numbers; therefore, they have been blacked out on this example.
Transition Systems, Inc. (1995). Information Tool Kit Participant's Guide. Transition Systems, Inc. One Boston Place, Boston, MA 02108