Healthcare Almanac is a business intelligence product developed by Robert Neal, CPA. The business entity for Robert Neal, CPA is Intech Computer Systems, Inc. that was incorporated in 1986. Intech Computer Systems is a software development business with many software products.
In 1996, Robert Neal, CPA updated a product named Win-Stat Analyst. Win-Stat Analyst performed hospital discharge analysis of UB04/92 for hospitals. The product's main focus was the analysis of UB04/92 data at the DRG and ICD-9 level. Over the next five years, the software was extended to a number of states and many features were added to improve the usability of the software. Many hospitals have used this information to analyze trends in their operation and improve their marketing and business practices. In 2005, the software is installed in 110 hospitals, HMOs and medical device manufactures.
In 2001, Robert Neal, CPA began a project to use the Internet to locate sources of publicly available information. The goal was to find business information that could be used by the healthcare industry to improve healthcare marketing, public relations, contracting, capacity planning and strategic planning. There is a large amount of information available from the government but the information is in many formats and difficult to use. One large source of information is the Medicare Cost Reports. Another large source is the Census Bureau with the census information. There are many sources of additional information that can enhance the healthcare cost information and population information. Over the next several years, this project continued with the goal of developing a software product resulting in better utilization of healthcare information and development of a healthcare industry strategic plans. The most important area was to find information for accurate forecasting of population and healthcare utilization.
In mid 2002, a test project was started to develop Healthcare Almanac in a programming language called Visual FoxPro. Visual FoxPro had a number of limitations related to distributed processing and file size limitations. Microsoft had just released Visual Studio .Net 2002/2003. This development environment was the result of 6 years of development by Microsoft. In my opinion, Visual Studio .Net is the best software development environment to date but is difficult to learn and use. Microsoft released VS2005 and VS2008 with numerous improvements and today, the .Net programming languages are the best development environment available today.
In early 2004, the overall business design of Healthcare Almanac was started and completed by the end of the year. This design was the definition of the Almanacs. Information was organized into Provider Almanac, Population Almanac, Patient Almanac, Reference Almanac and Healthcare Almanac. The Provider Almanac provides the definition of the healthcare industry. The Population Almanac provides the census or definition of healthcare patients. The Patient Almanac provides the use rates for inpatient and outpatient healthcare. The Reference Almanac provides additional information for DRGs, medical terminology and summary information. The final almanac is Healthcare Almanac. This almanac uses the information from the four almanacs to create a forecast of population, use rates, billing rates and projected financial statements.
On July 1, 2005, the software development of Provider Almanac was started. The progress of the project was slow due to the complexity of Visual Studio 2003. In November 2005, Visual Studio 2005, Framework 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 were released by Microsoft Corporation. All development activity was switched to the new software. By June, 2006, parts of Provider Almanac was completed and the product was released at the HFMA ANI conference in Orlando, FL with a small set of features. The POS data was for Hospitals, SNF, HHA and ESRD. The Medicare Cost Reports data for several worksheets was for Hospitals and SNFs.
In 2007, version 2007A and B of Provider Almanac were released with new data and reporting features. The main feature upgrade was software installation (called clickonce) over the internet and access to SQL Server 2005 Databases over the internet. Additional worksheets were added to the Medicare Cost reports. The POS reporting was completed for the remaining 11 types of providers. The UPIN data for physicians was also added to the available data sources.
In 2008, version 2008A and B were released with the new Cost Report Compare report with 5 years of comparison. The Medicare Cost Reports for HHA, ESRD and Hospice were completed. During the year, Visual Studio 2008, Framework 3.0 and SQL Server Express 2008 were released and development migrated to the new development tools.
In 2009, version 2009A and 2009B were released. Provider Almanac was upgraded with the new Summary Reports with Provider Profiles, KPIs and Provider Compare report with 5 years of history for Hospitals and SNF. The first emails using Constant Contact are sent to over 1,000 prospects with information about major healthcare providers.
In 2010, version 2010A and B were released. Provider Almanac feature set for cost reports and summary reports are substantially complete. The Summary Reports for HHA and Hospice are added to the software. General improvements are completed for the software. We continue to use emails to send Healthcare Information.
In 2011, version 2011A and B were released. Provider Almanac features remain substantially complete. The software was upgraded to Visual Studio 2010, Crystal Report 2010, Framework 4.0 and SQL Server Express 2008 R2. Due to performance issues with Click Once installation, Crystal Reports 2010 is replaced by the Microsoft Report View 2010 control. SQL Server Express 2008 R2 is replaced with SQL Compact 3.5. The general performance is the software and installation is excellent. We continue to use emails to send Healthcare Information to prospects and clients.
In 2012, version 2012A and B were released. Provider Almanac continues to be substantially complete. The development software is upgraded to Visual Studio 2012 and SQL Compact 4.0. The general performance and stability of the software is excellent. The SQL Server Databases are moved from a remote server installation to the new Microsoft Azure Cloud. The general performance of data queries in the Azure Cloud is excellent. The website is upgraded with a reports section to show Provider Profile, KPI and Compare reports for the 250 largest providers and the 4 largest states. The emails continue to prospects and clients.
In 2013, version 2013A and B were released. Provider Almanac continues to be substantially complete. The new cost report forms from CMS for Hospital, SNF and ESRD are added to the cost reports. The website is upgraded from a static type at a hosting facility to a dynamic website in the Azure Cloud with search features for provider information. The emails continue to prospects and client.
In 2014, version 2014A and B have been released. Provider Almanac continues to be substantially complete with the new Cost Report forms for Hospitals, SNF and ESRD. The website is upgraded with the new responsive design for all sizes of desktop display devices by using Bootstrap 3.1. The new search features are improved. The development tools are upgraded to Visual Studio 2013 along with many new add-on features from Microsoft.
In 2015, versions 2015A and B have been released. Preliminary work started to upgrade the website with new features for KPI, Financial, Ranking and Aggregate Totals information. For business and technical reasons, the development effort was placed on hold until late 2017. Numerous small improvements were completed for the desktop and website. The development tools are upgraded to Visual Studio 2015 along with many new add-on features from Microsoft.
In 2016, versions 2016A and B have been released. Numerous improvements were made to the website features relating to Microsoft Azure Websites. These improvements provide better performance, continuous development and security. Numerous small improvements were completed for the desktop for searching and selection.