[aaron]

I have an interesting dilemma:

I work for a hospital and, as a courtsey, we provide "custom lab test
profiles" for the doctor's office in the area. Every year we have to send out
'authorization' forms that bascially say which tests are in the profile, what
the patient cost will be if they aren't covered by insurance, as well as a
few other things. Each test is assigned a number.

Here is what I want to do:

I want to create a mail merge document that contains each test number, as
well as the profile name, but I'm running into trouble. I was curious if
there is a way to make an if...then statement that will automatically fill in
information based on what test number is ordered.

Example:

Entering test number '1234' automatically places the text "Test Name",
"Cost", and "Billing Code" next to the test number (ideally in the table
cells on the same row, so everything lines up neatly).

Is this possible or is there another way for this to work? There are over 75
profiles, some of them have at least 8 tests and this would take a very long
time to crank out. It would be easier if I could just input which tests are
in which profiles and let the computer do the rest. I don't even mind
building the database (which would be quite a bit of typing), I just don't
want to have someone have to write ALL the letters once EVERY year.

If you need clarification, let me know.

-Aaron



Edit: Actually, is there a way to use a Microsoft Excel database and use the
input from the first column to force a print of the rest of the row?

I don't know if I'm making anysense, but thank you!

[Peter Jamieson]

I have an interesting dilemma:

I'm not sure what the dilemma is - I'd say you actually have a business
requirement which needs
a. more precise definition
b. some exploration of possible approaches
c. some consideration of costs v. benefits, including the cost of finding
or producing a solution, the cost of making sure it is easily maintained
from year to year, and so on.

As far as (a) is concerned, you are obviously in a position to see the sort
of thing you produce each year, but we can only guess. e.g.
a. You have over 75 profiles, but what are they? Are they just lists of
tests? Or does each profile have some associated descriptive text or other
data that needs to go in each form? And do you have some new profiles each
year, and delete some old ones? Does the list of tests in each profile
change from time to time, or what?
b. are some tests in more than one profile, or is each test only ever in a
single profile?
c. What else is contained in an authorization form? What is the layout?
d. do you deliver these forms as bits of paper or electronically?
e. etc.

I don't really want to know the answers to these questions: I think you need
to do some more on the "requirement" and then think about how you might
implement it. Try a few things. Have a look at the messages in this group
(search it via groups.google.com, for example). And so on...

As far as (b) is concerned, if my guess as to what you are producing is
correct, you might well be able to produce it as a MailMerge application.
But if you happen to have Access, it might be much more straightforward to
create it as an Access application. But that depends partly on what that
would involve, e.g. can you do it yourself? Who will maintain it? Who will
use it? But there must be masses of resources available to hospitals for all
the kinds of things hospitals do: is there no way to find a similar,
existing application?

Peter Jamieson
"Aaron" wrote in message
...
I have an interesting dilemma:

I work for a hospital and, as a courtsey, we provide "custom lab test
profiles" for the doctor's office in the area. Every year we have to send
out
'authorization' forms that bascially say which tests are in the profile,
what
the patient cost will be if they aren't covered by insurance, as well as a
few other things. Each test is assigned a number.

Here is what I want to do:

I want to create a mail merge document that contains each test number, as
well as the profile name, but I'm running into trouble. I was curious if
there is a way to make an if...then statement that will automatically fill
in
information based on what test number is ordered.

Example:

Entering test number '1234' automatically places the text "Test Name",
"Cost", and "Billing Code" next to the test number (ideally in the table
cells on the same row, so everything lines up neatly).

Is this possible or is there another way for this to work? There are over
75
profiles, some of them have at least 8 tests and this would take a very
long
time to crank out. It would be easier if I could just input which tests
are
in which profiles and let the computer do the rest. I don't even mind
building the database (which would be quite a bit of typing), I just don't
want to have someone have to write ALL the letters once EVERY year.

If you need clarification, let me know.

-Aaron



Edit: Actually, is there a way to use a Microsoft Excel database and use
the
input from the first column to force a print of the rest of the row?

I don't know if I'm making anysense, but thank you!