Help needed to format data for import into Sky Index

[Kathleen Zander]

A client produces a medical insurance coding manual, which is updated annually to reflect changes in the medical field. The index for this manual presents medical procedures and services by several criteria. The index has historically been produced from a Word doc organized as a hierarchical tree, with the levels indicated by prefixes. Locators are the 5-digit codes: single codes, multiple codes, and/or sequential ranges of codes appear on the final levels. Here's an example:

 

main|Operation|

sub|Anatomical location|

sub1|Condition|

sub2|Procedure type A|12345, 12348

sub2|Procedure type B|23456-23458

 

The Word index doc currently consists of 44,000 lines and runs to 865 single-spaced pages. I need either a Word or Excel method to transform the outline format to a spreadsheet format that Sky Index 8.0 can ingest:

Operation[tab]Anatomical location[tab]Condition[tab]Procedure Type A[tab]12345, 12348

Operation[tab]Anatomical location[tab]Condition[tab]Procedure Type B[tab]23456-23458

 

Has anyone created a spreadsheet database from a hierarchy, or retained the services of someone who can?

[Graine Milner]

Hi,

Not sure how you could do this in Word or Excel but looks like something Perl would do very efficiently - it’s great at text processing. If you want to send me a couple of sample pages I can see if I can put together a little script that would do the job?

Hope this helps,

Graine

[Michael Wyatt]

There's heaps of discussion on this topic on both this list and the IDG list, and you'll get lots of different answers. Yes, it's possible to do it yourself, but it's boring, time-consuming and error-prone. As far as I am concerned it's more cost-effective to pay a service that specialises in this area; since you're using SKY, why not use the SKY Software Index Conversion Service, at https://www.sky-software.com/products/services.htm

Michael