Patient Records Database Tutorial
Making the most of your PearlDiver experience
Welcome to PearlDiver! This tutorial will guide you through the process of accessing the PearlDiver database and provide you with the knowledge to attain the maximum amount of information from over 22 million patient records. Derived from a consortium of private insurers, the PearlDiver database will give you access to patient information based on diagnostic code, procedure code, gender, and region.
- Begin by opening your internet browser.
- Once your internet browser is open, navigate to www.pearldiverinc.com. This will bring you to the web page shown below.
- To gain access to the database, use your cursor to select Sign In in the upper right hand corner of the screen, circled in yellow in Example 1.
Example 1
- Upon selection Sign In, you will be navigated to the Existing User Login screen as shown in Example 2. Here you will be asked to input your email address and PearlDiver password. Should you forget your password, you have the option of selecting ‘click here and we will send it to you’. Upon making this selection, a new screen will appear requesting your email address so that your password can be sent to you.
Example 2
- Once you have successfully input your email address and password, you will be directed to the PearlDiver subscribers home page. From this page you can open the Patient Record Database, change your password, perform any necessary account maintenance, purchase additional PearlDiver products, or add the PearlDiver Surgeon Dashboard to your computer.
- To enter the Patient Record Database, please follow the hyperlink available in the first paragraph of the subscribers home page, as shown in Example 3, circled in yellow.
Example 3
Using Database Search
- Upon signing in to the Patient Record Database, you will be presented with a screen just as shown in Example 4. This screen demonstrates the current demographics and also provides you with the ability to search the database in two unique ways, our Spot-On analysis and our database search. The database search provides you with the ability to search patient records using specific criteria, while Spot-On provides diagnostic associations, procedural associations, occurrences by age, gender, and quarter, associated charges, and longitudinal patient tracking.
Example 4
- To view the different demographics comprising the PearlDiver Database, simply click on the grey circle next to the specific demographic group (i.e. Gender, Region, or Billing Source) in the bottom Left corner of the screen directly to the left of the pie chart, shown above circled in yellow. Upon making your selection, the pie chart will change to display the demographic selected. Simply move your cursor over the pie chart to see the percentage and description of each demographic group.
- Beginning your data search process, the PearlDiver Database provides the ability to search patient data using patient ICD-9 diagnosis codes, ICD-9 procedure codes, and CPT procedure billing codes. These codes can be input under Step 1, shown above circled in blue and are used for either a database search, or PearlDiver's Spot on Analysis.
Should you not have the code for the specific diagnosis or procedure you wish to look up, simply click the blue and white hourglass image next to the diagnosis or procedure input box and a new lookup box will appear. Simply enter the name of the diagnosis or procedure under description and select lookup. A list of potential matches will then appear.
Database Search
- After entering a code to complete Step 1, you are now able to begin searching patient data. To utilize the database search, select the Database Search tab under Step 2 using your cursor.
- This will allow you to select additional criteria to refine your search. Such criteria include age groups within 5 year increments, regions within the United States, gender, location, and DRG code.
- Upon selecting your additional criteria, select Search and the results will be displayed as shown in Example 5.
Example 5
- At the top of these results on the left hand side is displayed both the total number of patient records and the number of distinct patients resulting from the search.
- The far left column of the results, Member, displays the unique member ID assigned to each distinct patient within the PearlDiver Database. This ID is included on every record of a distinct patient, and can be used to track the patient through the treatment process.
- Each member ID, displayed in red, also serves as an active link that, if clicked, will direct you to all the records for the associated member.
- Admit Date represents the date a diagnosis and/or a procedure was administered to the patient.
- Each patient record may also contain up to three diagnoses with the first diagnosis representing the primary diagnosis of the patient.
- Following the diagnoses of the patient is the CPT codes of any procedures performed.
- Procedure 1 and Procedure 2 both represent any ICD-9 procedures performed on the patient, followed by any DRG codes which may be associated with the patient visit.
- Charges represent the amount billed to the patient’s private insurer. Specialty represents the specialization of the physician involved with the patient visit.
- Revenue Code represents the revenue coding used on the patients billing. These codes will only appear on out-patient records, however not all out-patient records have been assigned revenue codes. So, it will not be unusual for this field of the patient’s record to be empty.
- Age group represents the age of the patient at the time of the visit. These groups are broken down in five year increments with the exception of the following groups: Under the age of 1, 2 to 4, 90 and over, and Unknown Age.
- Gender separates patients into either male or female categories.
- Region separates patients into the geographic location of the visit within the United States.
- Billing Type Represents where the billing originated from. Examples of this are inpatient hospital visit, outpatient hospital visit, or physician billing.
- Admit ID represents the ID assigned to a patient upon admission to a hospital/outpatient facility.
- Discharge Date represents the date of discharge for the patient.
- LOS represents the length of stay in the hospital/outpatient facility.
- The PearlDiver Database allows you to save your search results in a comma separated value (CSV) file which can be read by Microsoft Excel as well as most database software. The link to execute this save is located along the top row of the results page and is labeled 'Save As CSV'. Upon selecting this option, your computer will prompt you to select a location to save the file. Upon hitting Save, your computer will execute the save in the location you selected.
Please note, only the results displayed will be saved.
Spot-On Analysis
- To use the Spot-On Analysis after doing a database search, simply select Start Over at the top of your screen. This will return you to the initial search page.
- After entering a code to complete Step 1, you are now able to begin searching patient data this time using the Spot-On Analysis. To utilize the Spot-On Analysis, select the Spot-On Analysis tab under Step 2 using your cursor, then select search.
- The Spot-On analysis results are separated in to Top Diagnostic Associations, Top Procedure Associations, Occurrences by Gender and Quarter, and Occurrences by Age and Gender as in Example 6.
Example 6
Top Diagnostic Associations
- The top diagnostic associations represent the top diagnostic codes that appear on the same patient records as the diagnostic code you have searched for.
- To select this group of results, using your cursor click on the bar labeled Top Diagnostic Associations.
- The results are presented graphically. To view the actual percentage of top associated codes, simply drag your cursor over the respective areas of the pie chart.
- To view the supporting data which lists the number of patient records associated with the top codes, select Supporting Data, displayed above the pie graph.
Top Procedure Associations
- The top procedure associations represent procedures performed in association with the diagnosis searched for. These are procedures recorded on the patient records on the same day as the diagnosis code.
- Please note this category is only available if you are viewing search results for a diagnostic code.
- To select this group of results, using your cursor click on the bar labeled Top Procedure Associations.
- The results are presented graphically. To view the actual percentage of top associated procedure codes, simply drag your cursor over the respective areas of the pie chart.
- To view the supporting data which lists the number of patient records associated with the top codes, select Supporting Data, displayed above the pie graph.
Tracking by Gender and Quarter
- Tracking by Gender and Quarter provides graphical and supporting data of quarterly occurrences by gender of the diagnosis or procedure of interest.
- To select this group of results, using your cursor click on the bar labeled Tracking by Gender and Quarter.
- The results are presented graphically. To view the actual number of occurrences for your diagnosis or procedure of interest, simply drag your cursor over the respective bar on the chart.
- These results default to 2004, to select a different year, select from the years listed on the right hand side of the screen.
- It is important to note that as the years are changed, the numbers displayed on the x-axis at the bottom of the bar graph will also change.
- To view the supporting data which lists the number of patient records associated with your diagnosis or procedure of interest, select Supporting Data, displayed above the bar graph.
Occurrences by Age and Gender
- This view shows occurrences of the diagnosis or procedure sorted by age groups.
- To select this group of results, using your cursor click on the bar labeled Occurrences by Age and Gender.
- The results are presented graphically. To view the actual number of occurrences for your diagnosis or procedure of interest, simply drag your cursor over the respective bar on the chart.
- These results default to 2004, to select a different year, select from the years listed on the right hand side of the screen.
- It is important to note that as the years are changed, the numbers displayed on the y-axis on the left side of the bar graph will also change.
- To view the supporting data which lists the number of patient records associated with your diagnosis or procedure of interest, select Supporting Data, displayed above the bar graph.
- This view shows procedure codes charted as average charges by region and is further separated by year and quarter.
- To select this group of results, using your cursor click on the bar labeled Average Charge by Region.
- Please note this view is only available for ICD-9 procedure codes and CPT codes.
- The results are presented graphically. To view the average charge for each respective region and quarter, simply drag your cursor over the respective bar on the chart.
- These results default to 2004, to select a different year, select from the years listed on the right hand side of the screen.
- It is important to note that as the years are changed, the numbers displayed on the y-axis on the left side of the bar graph will also change.
- To view the supporting data which lists breakdown of average charges, select Supporting Data, displayed above the bar graph.
- Longitudinal Patient Tracking provides the ability to track the medical history of a distinct patient or group of patients from a medical event such as surgery. This view displays the most common procedures that occur prior to and after your procedure of interest.
As shown in Example 7, the results are separated into two categories, Previous and Following. Within these categories information is broken down into procedure code, procedure description, the percentage of occurrences the procedure is performed before/after the procedure of interest, and the per patient average charge (PPAC).
Example 7
- Within these categories, there is also the ability to sort alphabetically or numerically. To do this, left click on the heading above the column of information you wish to sort.
Longitudinal patient tracking also has the ability to narrow your search to one particular procedural code. To do this, simply select Search above the results and you will be directed to a similar screen which you can enter your second code of interest above the previous results box. Upon entering your code and selecting search, the information will be displayed.
Appendices
Defined Regions
Midwest: IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, IL, IN, MI, WI, OH, ND, SD
Northwest: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, PA, RI, NY, VT
South: AL, AR, DC, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV, PR
West: AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, HI
Service Location Definitions
Service Location Code Definition
5 Indian Health Service Free-Standing Facility
6 Indian Health Service Provider-Based Facility
11 Office
12 Home
13 Assisted Living Facility
20 Urgent Care Facility
21 Inpatient Hospital
22 Outpatient Hospital
23 Emergency Room-Hospital
24 Ambulatory Surgical Center
25 Birthing Center
26 Military Treatment Facility
31 Skilled Nursing Facility
34 Hospice
41 Ambulance - Land
42 Ambulance - Air or Water
52 Psychiatric Facility - Partial Hospitalization
55 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facility
62 Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility
81 Independent Laboratory
99 Other Place of Service