3. 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.
3.1. 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. 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.
3.3. 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:
Or, they will appear on a Destination Selection screen after the main options screen:
Use the arrow keys to select the output destination you need.
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.