HCPF’s Safe Harbor Rule Applied to COGNOS

Presented by Michael SajovetzOriginal Developer: Sherri Ahmadi

Safe Harbor Rule

• HIPAA regulations forbid the disclosure of protected health information (PHI)– This can include small cell sizes in

spreadsheets• HCPF has set a “Safe Harbor Limit” for

small cell sizes– HCPF: 30– Medicare: 10– CDPHE: 3

Caseload by County

• Threshold set at 100 clients to ensure that more than one county is not reported

• Total number of clients in the county too low → entire row null

• Number of clients in one age group too low → total reported, age groups null

Caseload by County

Three-Step Process for Counting Clients

• This method relies on creating new data items in a query, so it can only be done in Report Studio

• All data items use Case When…Then statements with For conditions

Step 1case when count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description], [Age Group]) > 100 then count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description], [Age Group])else nullend

• Age Count Step 1• Does not appear on Report Page• Only return values when the number of

clients in a county per age group is greater than 100– Note the “for” constraint to define the scope of

COGNOS auto-aggregation

Write SQL here

Rename data item here

Select data item here

Step 2:case when count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description] ) > 100then count([Client ID] for [Client County Code Description])else cast(NULL,Integer)end

• Total Client Count (All Ages)• Appears on Report Page• Only returns values when the total

number of clients in a county is greater than 100

Step 3:case when (([Total Client Count (All Ages)] - [Age Count Step 1])<100 and [Age Count Step 1] >

100)then cast(null,Integer)else [Age Count Step 1]end

• Client Count by Age Group• Appears on Report Page• Only returns values when the difference between

the total number of clients in a county and the number of clients in one age group in the county is greater than 100– Relies on two previously created data items

Page Layout

• Data item “Client Count by Age Group” acts as the “intersection” of the crosstab

• Data item “Total Client Count (All Ages)” acts as the summary on the right of the crosstab

• Blinding affects summaries, so total client by age category table becomes necessary

Similar Functions in COGNOS

• Conditional formatting can be used to suppress small values– Conditional formatting can replace small

values with specific text or images, or leave cells blank

– In this case, conditional formatting cannot be used because one small cell size requires most or all of a row to be suppressed

1. Conditional formatting icon

3. Create new threshold at desired value

4. Change value from “Default” to “No”

Create new conditional format