Health Information Solutions

Health Information Solutions builds custom applications that deliver SAS Analytics to open-source front-end tools such as JavaScript, JQuery, High Charts, Bootstrap and Data Tables.

Some of our recent solutions include...

• A real-time data collection and reporting platform for over 130 hospitals participating in the California Perinatal Quality Collaborative. The solution supports data entry that is adapted to changing client needs, as well as the delivery of real-time data analytics at the network, regional and hospital level.
• A data abstraction and reporting system for Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research. The system automates the pull of data from the electronic medical record, and includes error and completeness checks, and generates submission-ready EDI files. The application is being adapted for migration from SAS 9.4 with SAS/IntrNet to SAS Viya
• A data collection and reporting platform for the California Perinatal Transport System. The solution consolidates collection, reporting, and statisitcal analysis for the health status of newborn infants that require acute transport within 28 days of birth.
• A repository of volume and post-procedure outcomes for cardiac surgery and interventions in California. The work was a collaboration with The California Society of Thoracic Surgeons and ULA. Visit CaliforniaCardiacSurgery.com for more information.

Health Information Solutions has developed customized linkage algorithms for several health and demographic databases.

Our most well known linkage is for infant hospital discharge records, maternal hospital discharge records, and vital statistics birth certificate data. Our probabilistic algorithms deliver linkage percentages exceeding 98%.

We have also developed a probabilistic linkage technique for matching re-hospitalizations and transfers of under-one-year olds to their birth hospitalization as well as for matching maternal prenatal and postnatal hospitalizations.

Starting with birth cohort year 2006, we extended the linkage to include a) any matches of infants under 1 year of age in ambulatory surgery or emergency department records, and b) any matches of maternal prenatal (within 9 months prior to the delivery) or maternal postnatal (within 1 year of the delivery) visits in ambulatory surgery or emergency department records.

For more information or to obtain these linked data files, contact the California Healthcare Information Resource Center.

Additional linkage projects include...

• Matching Medicare beneficiary data to California hospital discharge data
• Linkages for the California Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Outcome Reporting Program (CCORP)
• Linkage of pediatric emergency department encouters to inpatient admissions
• Matching of EMS trasport and emergency department encounter data
• Linkage of maternal postpartum deaths to vital statistics birth certificate data.

Health Information Solutions supports statistical analyses for research. Examples include...

• For the past 15 years we have worked with the California Office of Statewide Planning and Development on the annual California Report on Coronary Bypass Graft Surgery.
• In collaboration with Rand, Santa Monica, we assessed the effect of survey mode and other factors on surveys designed to measure patient satisfaction with their medical groups.
• In collaboration with the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), we studied the effects of early (within 48 hours) and very early discharge (within 24 hours) on infant re-admissions during the first 28 days of life. In an effort to assess aspects of the quality of care provided by hospitals in California, we produced risk-adjusted re-hospitalization rates for each hospital in California. PBGH has made the results of this work publicly available.
• We have been or are involved in several research efforts with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of General Medicine at the University of California at Davis.
• We were involved in a marketing research study for the California AIM (Access to Infants and Mothers) program, a program that provides health insurance for uninsured pregnant women and their children. Using GIS techniques, we are able to identify those local areas in California with the largest proportion of uninsured women with inadequate levels of prenatal care and less than optimal birth outcomes,e.g., high re-hospitalization rates or percentages of low birth weight babies.

Our principals have over twenty-five years of experience with SAS Software

We offer techincal support in the following areas:

• SAS Viya
• SAS/Base
• SAS/Macro
• SAS/STAT
• SAS/ODS
• SAS/IntrNet
• SAS Stored Processes

Our services include:

• SAS software installations
• Application development
• Research and research support
• Development of presentation graphics
• Mapping/GIS
• Statistical consulting
• Contract programming

OS Support:

• Windows
• UNIX
• Linux