3. Running Reports in Partner
3.1. Finding the Report
Where are Partner's reports? They are located in different windows and screens, depending on their subject and purpose. To find Partner reports, look in the following locations:
Quick Links From Partner Programs: The most frequently used Partner reports are available from within Partner programs. For example, the Collection Report (coll) is the fastest way to understand the outstanding balances on an account. You can run it from within the Family Editor (fame).
Patient Demographic Reports Window: Although report windows may differ by practice and user, standard Partner configuration includes a window with the following reports:
Practice Management/Financial Reports Window: Although report windows may differ by practice and user, standard Partner configuration includes a window with the following reports:
Billing Functions Windows: Although report windows may differ by practice and user, standard Partner configuration contains two sub-windows that contain billing reports, Insurance Collections:
and Personal Billing and Collections:
Program Names: The program name of each of the reports can be found next to the report name in the windows above, or in the report catalog section below. Once you have learned the program name of a report, you can type it at a command prompt to run the report.
Smart Report Suite (srs): The srs program is a collection of reports on a variety of subjects that are run with a consistent interface. srs has a category for Custom Reports, which you or PCC Software Support can write using the srsgen program. Many of the reports located in the windows described above are links to srs reports.
 | If your practice needs easy access to a certain report, PCC can create a quick-link to that report from any Partner Window or the command prompt. |
3.2. Report Options
Most report programs begin with a screen of options that will define and restrict the report's output. The default settings on the options screen may give you exactly the report you want. If not, you can make changes that will limit the report's results or format the output.
Here is the options screen for the Insurance Reimbursement Analysis (ira) report:
| ira is a very flexible and powerful report, so there are many choices on the options screen. |
After setting and selecting your desired options, press a function key, usually F1, to run the report. Sometimes there are several function keys which run different reports. The ira report, for example, contains three different report formats, as shown above.
The next sections contain explanations of each of the different types of options you will find in Partner reports.
3.2.1. Dates
Almost every report can be restricted by a date range. The default date range for ira is year-to-date, the default date range for Deposit Slip (deposit) is today's date. You can alter the date range by entering new dates in the From and To fields.
Reports that show the age of balances, such as the Insurance Accounts Receivable Summary (insaging) and the Personal Money Tracking Assistant (persview), allow you to measure the age by three different dates:
Transaction Date: Age the balance by the date of service, when the visit occurred.
Posting Date: Age the balance by the date the service was entered into Partner.
Payor Date: Age the balance by the date on which the charge became the responsibility of the current party. This is also called the "Payor Responsibility Date."
In most situations, aging by transaction date makes the most sense. You usually want to know how old charges really are, from the date of service. Many reports offer only that option.
When Do You use the Payor Date Option? If you were reviewing overdue personal accounts, for example, you would want to use the Payor Date when reporting or creating overdue letters in persview. Otherwise, a year-old charge that was rejected by the insurance company last week would trigger a late notice for the family! When you choose the Payor Date option, however, Partner is smart enough to know that the charge has only been the family's responsibility for a week.
3.2.2. Sort and Subtotal Features
The "Subtotal Data By" fields, available on some options screens, have a profound effect on a report's output. Different subtotal lines reshape a report and can make it more useful for your practice management decisions. Enter an asterisk (*) in any subtotal field to see the different variables by which you can subtotal the report.
If you want to know how many times each provider performed each procedure over a period of time, run ira and enter "Provider of Service" followed by "Procedure" in the Subtotal Data fields. Then press [F1 -- Summary Report].
The resulting output will include a section for each provider, details about their procedures for the given date range, and useful totals.
If you reverse the order of the items in the Subtotal Data By fields, and run the same report, ira will sort and total the same data in a different way:
The providers' numbers for each procedure are identical in the two examples above. The different subtotal field order, however, provides an alternate way to analyze the data.
The Deposit Slips (deposit) program also has a sort/subtotal feature. If your practice needs to balance its cash drawer by user, for example, you could set the options as follows:
The deposit options screen displays the subtotal features differently from the ira screen, but the feature works the same way.
Some reports, such as deposit, include a "Totals Only" option. This option removes the individual lines of the report, leaving only the totals:
Use "Totals Only" to simplify the report output and view only the total and subtotal information.
3.2.3. Destination Selection
All reports can be viewed on your computer screen or sent to a printer. Some reports can also be e-mailed to your Partner e-mail account or saved to a file.
The destination options for a report either appear in a section of the main options screen of a report or after you press F1 to run a report:
While viewing some reports on the screen, you can press [F4 -- Send To...] to bring up the Destination Selection screen and send the report to the printer or another location.
Destination Options
Screen/View on Screen: Show the report results on the screen only. Some reports will then ask if you wish to print before leaving the screen.
Mailbox/E-mail: E-mail the report to your Partner e-mail account or, in some reports, any e-mail address you wish. Some users use the Mailbox option to transfer a report to their PC and then load it into a spreadsheet program. Contact PCC for assistance or read the SRS section below for more information.
Print: Send the report output directly to a Partner printer. You can allow Partner to send the report to your default printer or enter a specific printer name. Enter an asterisk (*) in the printer name field to see a list of available printers.
File/srsfiles: Send the report output to a file stored on your Partner server. This option is only available in the Smart Report Suite and a few other reports. Read the SRS sections below for more information on how to control criteria and output in srs and retrieve files from the srsfiles program.
Save to Workstation: Transfer the report directly to your computer workstation.
3.3. Advanced Criteria Screens
Many reports have options on the initial screen that will cause other configuration screens to appear before the report output is generated. With these options, you can include or exclude large amounts of report data and make a report more useful. The main option screen asks a criteria question, and the subsequent screens ask the user to fine-tune that criteria.
For example, the ira option screen includes a series of yes/no questions:
The Patient Recaller (recaller) option screen contains a long pick-list of possible criteria:
If you answer "No" to any of ira's questions, or select a criteria item in recaller, the report will need to ask you which of the selected items you want it to include.
In the examples shown above, the user wishes to run each report for only a single insurance company. They changed the "All insurance?" question to "No" in ira, they checked off "Include Insurance Plan(s)" in recaller. When they run either report, Partner will ask them which insurance companies should be included:
You can scroll through the list with the arrow keys or by pressing Page Down and Page Up. Press [F2 -- Select] to mark an item you wish to include. Press [F1 -- Process] to continue.
The image above shows insurance company selection, but the screen is identical for procedures, diagnoses, providers, or any other restriction criteria. You will see one such screen for every criteria option you selected on the report's main options screen.
Here is a full explanation of each of the screen's function keys and how to use them to select entries:
Function Keys
- [F1 -- Process]
Press F1 to run the report using all of the items you have selected. If you do not first select an item, the final report may be blank.
- [F2 -- Select]
Press F2 to select the currently highlighted item. You can select more than one entry. Selected entries will be marked with an asterisk (*). If you select a "GROUP" item, all of the items within that group will be included. Press F2 a second time to deselect an entry.
- [F3 -- Select All]
Press F3 to select all entries. If you want your report to show results for all insurance companies except for a few, you could press F3 and then deselect the entry or entries you do not want to include.
- [F4 -- Select None]
Press F4 to deselect all the selections you have made and start over.
- [F5 -- List By Group]
Press F5 to condense the list of options. The individual items will disappear and you will see only the groups.
Insurance companies, providers, and procedures all have groups. Selecting the BCBS Group is much easier than selecting every BCBS plan individually. You can modify your groups in the Table Editor (ted).
- [F6 -- List By Pattern]
Press F6 to search for an item. You can search by name or any number that appears in an item's title. The search screen gives detailed instructions:
After entering a search item and pressing [F1 -- Process Pattern], you will see a list of all items that contain the pattern you entered:
After you select desired items from the search results, press [F1 -- Process]. Partner will return you to the complete list, allowing you to make additional selections.
After making all of your selections, press [F1 -- Process] to continue. If you answered "No" to several questions or selected more than one criteria on the report's main options page, Partner will display a separate selection list for each one.
3.4. Viewing Report Output on the Screen
Partner reports appear on the screen either as plain text or through a standard Partner interface.
3.4.1. Navigating a Report
Use the arrow keys or the Page Up and Page Down keys to move around the report. If function keys are available, you can also press [F2 -- Jump to Top] and [F3 -- Jump to Bottom].
3.4.2. Searching a Report
While viewing any plain text output in Partner, press the slash key (/), type a search pattern, and press Enter to search. You can then step down to each search result by pressing the N key.
If you are viewing a report within a Partner interface, as shown in the image above, press [F8 -- Search Pattern], enter a search pattern, and press Enter.
You can then press [F7 -- Search For Next] to step down to each search result.
3.4.3. Choosing a New Output Destination
If you are viewing a report within a Partner interface, as shown in the image above, press [F4 -- Send To...]to return to the Destination Selection screen and pick a new report output.
3.5. Interactive Reports
Some reports allow you to expand their output to view more information or jump directly into other Partner programs. These interactive reports are very powerful. For example, the Insurance Accounts Receivable Detail (inscoar) report can show you detailed visit information for all accounts that have a balance pending Aetna that is over 90 days old. If you run the report in "Interactive" mode, you can jump into more visit details, examine the account history, generate a new claim to Aetna, and make corrections, all without leaving the report!
To learn more about interactive reports, read Insurance Accounts Receivable Detail (inscoar) or The Personal Money Tracking Assistant. The examples in those two manuals will teach you to use the different interactive report tools. Other reports that you can run in "Interactive" mode include Account History (tater) and Daily Check (dailycheck).