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#1
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Database design help
I work for a non-profit that assists low income people get medications from the pharmaceutical companies. I have been working weeks on a database, but keep getting stopped. A person comes in with a list of medications they need to take. It can be from one, up to around 13 to 15, depending on the person. The same person can have one doctor, or multiple doctors, but usually one doctor. We fill out an application for each medicine (prescription or script). Regardless if they have multiple medicines from the same company. We gather the paperwork, send it to the Dr for signature, receive the paperwork back from the Dr. and send it to the pharmaceutical company. The problem come in here. After the initial order, the person comes back in when their medication runs out. Either in 30, 60, or 90 days. Then we do a re-order for the person. How do I keep a history of what we have done for the person? And for each medicine? I would like to grow the database in the future to include the pharmaceutical companies and their respective medicines. I would also like to have the system tell me when a persons medication is about to run out, so that we can reorder it and the person does not have to go without medicine, which they have to do now. We also have to track the following: The date the person originally came in and joined The date we originally received a prescription The date we processed the prescription and did the paper work The date we sent the paper work to the Dr for signature The date we received the paper work from the Dr with his signature The date we send the paper work to the pharmaceutical company The date the medicine comes in The date we contact the person that their medicine is in and available to be picked up. Any help and or guidance would be very greatly appreciated, and help us to help many other people that would not normally get the medicines they need to live. Thanks in advance, Kirk Rotramel P.A.L.S. - Prescription Assistance League Service Patient Advocate |
#2
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Database design help
It would certainly be possible to do all that in Access. But you will have
to start by designing a properly normalized database structure. You have started well, by clearly identifying & describing your data needs. If you do not know the term "normalized", start here for a dry but instructive read: http://support.microsoft.com/support...es/Q100139.ASP HTH, TC "Kirk" wrote in message ... I work for a non-profit that assists low income people get medications from the pharmaceutical companies. I have been working weeks on a database, but keep getting stopped. A person comes in with a list of medications they need to take. It can be from one, up to around 13 to 15, depending on the person. The same person can have one doctor, or multiple doctors, but usually one doctor. We fill out an application for each medicine (prescription or script). Regardless if they have multiple medicines from the same company. We gather the paperwork, send it to the Dr for signature, receive the paperwork back from the Dr. and send it to the pharmaceutical company. The problem come in here. After the initial order, the person comes back in when their medication runs out. Either in 30, 60, or 90 days. Then we do a re-order for the person. How do I keep a history of what we have done for the person? And for each medicine? I would like to grow the database in the future to include the pharmaceutical companies and their respective medicines. I would also like to have the system tell me when a persons medication is about to run out, so that we can reorder it and the person does not have to go without medicine, which they have to do now. We also have to track the following: The date the person originally came in and joined The date we originally received a prescription The date we processed the prescription and did the paper work The date we sent the paper work to the Dr for signature The date we received the paper work from the Dr with his signature The date we send the paper work to the pharmaceutical company The date the medicine comes in The date we contact the person that their medicine is in and available to be picked up. Any help and or guidance would be very greatly appreciated, and help us to help many other people that would not normally get the medicines they need to live. Thanks in advance, Kirk Rotramel P.A.L.S. - Prescription Assistance League Service Patient Advocate |
#3
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Database design help
On Sun, 2 May 2004 17:16:25 -0700, "Kirk"
wrote: I work for a non-profit that assists low income people get medications from the pharmaceutical companies. I have been working weeks on a database, but keep getting stopped. This is a nontrivial but reasonable project... BUT! If you're in the United States or the EU, be aware that such medical records come under pretty strict privacy regulations. You might be opening your organization to some pretty serious legal trouble unless the database is designed in accordance with these (complex and finicky) rules. You may want to consider hiring a consultant with experience in developing medical information systems. For the actual text of the regulation see http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/finalreg.html. If you are comfortable with going ahead, you still may want to take this offline with someone willing to donate some time to interactively determining the requirements and sketching out a solid table design. I'm not free to help right now but if your timeline will allow it you could contact me later this month (jvinson at wysardofinfo dot com); I'd be willing to donate some time. Note that I am *NOT* a HIPAA expert of any description, though I'm aware of that particular large shark in these murky waters! John W. Vinson[MVP] Come for live chats every Tuesday and Thursday http://go.compuserve.com/msdevapps?loc=us&access=public |
#4
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Database design help
"John Vinson" wrote in message news On Sun, 2 May 2004 17:16:25 -0700, "Kirk" wrote: I work for a non-profit that assists low income people get medications from the pharmaceutical companies. I have been working weeks on a database, but keep getting stopped. This is a nontrivial but reasonable project... BUT! If you're in the United States or the EU, be aware that such medical records come under pretty strict privacy regulations. You might be opening your organization to some pretty serious legal trouble unless the database is designed in accordance with these (complex and finicky) rules. You may want to consider hiring a consultant with experience in developing medical information systems. For the actual text of the regulation see http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/finalreg.html. If you are comfortable with going ahead, you still may want to take this offline with someone willing to donate some time to interactively determining the requirements and sketching out a solid table design. I'm not free to help right now but if your timeline will allow it you could contact me later this month (jvinson at wysardofinfo dot com); I'd be willing to donate some time. Note that I am *NOT* a HIPAA expert of any description, though I'm aware of that particular large shark in these murky waters! Good point about the privacy issue. Now I remember this thread: Kirk, go to groups.google.com, select Advanced Groups Search, then enter the above ID ( *including the s* ) into the Message ID box for more information on HIPAA & Access. HTH, TC |
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