PECS Reporting 101
and Drill Down
Benjamin Fouts MPH
OneWorld Community Health Center
Omaha, NE
Phase 2 Health Disparities Retreat
April 12, 2007
Council Bluffs, IA
Agenda
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What is a “drill down” ??
Two methods to drill down in PECS
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Registry Summary Reports
Canned or Custom Reports
Example of a customized drill-down
report
Drill Down Definition
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To examine information at another
level.
In information technology, to move
from summary information to the
detailed data that created it.
Especially in a database, to
navigate to a more detailed level or
record.
http://www.answers.com/topic/drill-down
Drill Down
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Many Health Disparities Collaborative
indicators summarize complex and multifaceted systems
Drilling down focuses on one or more
components of the system to analyze its
effect on the whole
You can drill down to progressively more
and more detail until you get to the level
that gives you the data you need
Two Methods to Drill Down in PECS
1. Registry Summary Report
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Provides data directly from the
Collaborative indicators
Can be run for individual clinics or
primary providers
But, there is limited data to choose
from and display
1. Registry Summary Report
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Report category: Diabetes
Name: “DM Registry Summary Report”
Choose to Preview report
Then, in the report, click on an indicator
1. Registry Summary Report
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Choose
patients
included in or
excluded
from the
indicator
Copy data to
your clipboard and
paste into
Microsoft
Excel
Two Methods to Examine Data
2. Other Reports
a. Reports that came with PECS (red
font)
b. Customized reports (black font)
2. Other Reports: Components

The fields you query (i.e., the way
you select the population you are
interested in)
2. Other Reports: Components

The fields you display (i.e., what
you are interested in knowing about
the population, including fields for
further analysis)
Example: Diabetic Self
Management (SM) Goal Setting
A drill down exercise can start when you
notice something unusual in one of your
Collaborative trend graphs
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
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Check: reminder works
Check: data clerk person entering goals
appropriately
We will decide to “drill down” on provider
teams
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Registry Summary Report Data
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Remember that the graphed
indicators correspond to the bolded
and italicized data elements on the
Registry Summary Report
To understand the patients who are
included in the indicator, check the
exact definition of the indicator on
http://www.healthdisparities.net/
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Registry Summary Report Data
Documentation of self-management
goal setting:
“The number of diabetic patients in
the clinical information system with
documented self-management goals
in the last 12 months divided by the
total number of diabetic patients in
the clinical information system.”
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Registry Summary Report Data
Click on 12b to get the
following fields:
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Registry Summary Report Data
This patient-specific data
may be all you need:
 To do a chart review
 To see patterns that can
tell you something
 To take action: get a nurse
to call the “excluded”
patients and make SM
goals
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Use Another Report
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If the Registry Summary Report
data is not specific or detailed
enough for your purposes, you will
need to use another report
Then, ask yourself, can you use one
of the reports that comes with PECS
or do you need to create your own?
Study Questions For the Example
of Diabetic SM Goal
Simple hypothesis: There are
differences in SM goal setting
between the different provider
teams
Study Questions For the Example
of Diabetic SM Goal
Q: Study population: who are the
patients you want to focus on?
A: Diabetic patients with and without
a self management goal
Q: Display fields: what are the fields
you need to display?
A: Encounter provider and SM goal
date
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Keep in Mind…
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You might not have a neat and tidy
hypothesis
Sometimes drilling down means
following leads, refining study
questions and getting different
kinds of data in order to isolate the
problem you are encountering
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Check Existing Reports
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First, check to see if an existing
report meets your needs
If it only comes close, it can be
used as the beginning of a custom
report
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Check Existing Reports
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Does this report have the filters we
need?
Yes: it has a diabetic patient filter
and a self management goal filter
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Check Existing Reports
Note:
 Enter 365 days to get
the same patients as
the “excluded”
patients from the
Registry Summary
Report
 Enter ZERO to get all
patients (i.e., those
with recent SM goals,
old SM goals, and no
SM goals)
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Check Existing Reports
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Does this report have the output
(or display) fields we need?
No: it does not display the provider
who saw the patient
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Create a Custom Report
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Choose to edit “List DM Pts no SM
Goal Last xx Days”
Enter a different report name
Choose “No statistics”
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Create a Custom Report
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The filters for this report do not need to
be changed
On the Select Columns screen, select the
Encounter category, then 1) click on
Encounter Provider Name and 2) click Add
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Run the New Custom Report
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Now we have the new custom
report (black font)
Click
On the next screen, leave the
default report dates and click
Enter 365 days in the pop up
window
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Working With the Output
Sort the list.
In Excel,
highlight
rows and
columns with
data and
click “Sort…”
in the Data
drop-down
menu
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Working With the Output
Sort by Encounter Provider
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Working With the Output
Count the patients for each provider
(hint: Excel counts highlighted cells
that contain numbers)
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Working With the Output
Create a table to display the output
Diabetic patients
without current self
management goal
Provider A
Provider B
Provider C
4
12
45
Total diabetic
patients
Percent diabetic patients
without a current self
management goal
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Working With the Output
Conveniently, we
can get the total
number of patients
for each provider
by using the same
report, but with a
zero in the
dialogue box.
Count patients the
same way.
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Working With the Output
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Provider A
Provider B
Provider C
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Complete the table. Conclusions?
Diabetic patients
without current self
management goal
Total diabetic
patients
Percent diabetic patients
without a current self
management goal
4
12
45
25
47
63
16.0%
25.5%
71.4%
Target performance improvement
activities accordingly. Give data and
feedback directly to providers or
teams
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
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Once you implement a performance
improvement activity, you can then
monitor the data monthly
To do this, we need to add
Encounter Date to our report
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
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If we want to see last month’s data,
enter March 31 date for “Thru”
Then enter zero to see all patients
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
In Excel, sort the
columns again, but
this time sort by
encounter provider
and then by
encounter date
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
Highlight the rows
with an encounter
in March for one
provider
(Do not highlight
other dates outside
of March or other
providers)
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
Then, with the
rows still
highlighted, sort by
self management
goal setting date
(“Column D” in the
sorting box)
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
We then
count all self
management
goals made
within a year
of the March
encounter
date.
Example: Diabetic SM Goal
Monthly Monitoring
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Of the 17 patients seen in March by
the provider, 15 had a self
management goal within the past
year and 2 did not
Add to a modified table
Diabetic patients seen in
March with current self
management goal
Provider D
Provider E
Provider F
15
20
10
Total diabetic
Percent diabetic patients
patients seen in
with a current self
March
management goal
17
22
21
88.2%
90.9%
47.6%
Goal
70.0%
70.0%
70.0%
Drill Down Conclusions
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Depending on what you are looking
for, drill down using data from:
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Registry Summary Reports
Reports that come with PECS
Custom reports
To analyze the data, you usually
have to import it into Excel, then
sort it by particular fields and count
the results
Drill Down Conclusions
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Questions?
Benjamin Fouts MPH
OneWorld Community Health Center
Omaha, NE
bfouts@oneworldomaha.org