HCPF’s Safe Harbor Rule
Applied to COGNOS
Presented by Michael Sajovetz
Original Developer: Sherri Ahmadi
Safe Harbor Rule
• HIPAA regulations forbid the disclosure of
protected health information (PHI)
– This can include small cell sizes in
spreadsheets
• HCPF has set a “Safe Harbor Limit” for
small cell sizes
– HCPF: 30
– Medicare: 10
– CDPHE: 3
Caseload by County
• Threshold set at 100 clients to ensure that
more than one county is not reported
• Total number of clients in the county too
low → entire row null
• Number of clients in one age group too
low → total reported, age groups null
Caseload by County
Three-Step Process for Counting
Clients
• This method relies on creating new data
items in a query, so it can only be done in
Report Studio
• All data items use Case When…Then
statements with For conditions
Step 1
case when count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description], [Age Group]) > 100
then count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description], [Age Group])
else null
end
• Age Count Step 1
• Does not appear on Report Page
• Only return values when the number of
clients in a county per age group is greater
than 100
– Note the “for” constraint to define the scope of
COGNOS auto-aggregation
Select data item here
Write SQL here
Rename data item here
Step 2:
case when count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description] ) > 100
then count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description])
else cast(NULL,Integer)
end
• Total Client Count (All Ages)
• Appears on Report Page
• Only returns values when the total
number of clients in a county is greater
than 100
Step 3:
case when (([Total Client Count (All Ages)] - [Age Count Step 1])<100 and [Age Count Step 1] >
100)
then cast(null,Integer)
else [Age Count Step 1]
end
• Client Count by Age Group
• Appears on Report Page
• Only returns values when the difference between
the total number of clients in a county and the
number of clients in one age group in the county is
greater than 100
– Relies on two previously created data items
Page Layout
• Data item “Client Count by Age Group”
acts as the “intersection” of the crosstab
• Data item “Total Client Count (All Ages)”
acts as the summary on the right of the
crosstab
• Blinding affects summaries, so total client
by age category table becomes necessary
Similar Functions in COGNOS
• Conditional formatting can be used to
suppress small values
– Conditional formatting can replace small
values with specific text or images, or leave
cells blank
– In this case, conditional formatting cannot be
used because one small cell size requires
most or all of a row to be suppressed
1. Conditional formatting icon
Create new conditional format
4. Change value from
“Default” to “No”
3. Create new threshold
at desired value