NextGen Reporting: Which Option is Right for You?

Since organizations have unique workflows and processes for their specialty, patient population, and operational needs, it's vital to have robust reporting solutions to meet those needs. As users of NextGen Healthcare EHR & EPM, your practice has several options for reporting. Partner with TempDev to help determine which NextGen reporting option might be right for your practice by learning more about the available choices, plus the benefits and drawbacks of each choice. 

Built-In NextGen EPM Reporting 

NextGen EPM includes a reporting module with dozens of default reporting templates that most clients find incredibly valuable. The reports can be customized by adding pre-existing columns, applying filters, or selecting different sorting options. The reports can be memorized with dynamic settings so that they are useful at a later point in time and for other users.

Advantages

The benefits of using NextGen EPM's built-in reporting module are:

1. Simple and easy to use

2. Users of any skill set can quickly create reports on the fly

3. Can be scheduled to run automatically via the NextGen Background Business Processor (BBP)

4. Easily exported to a snapshot, Microsoft Excel, CSV, or PDF

Disadvantages

The downsides of using NextGen EPM's built-in reporting module are:

1. Can be overly detailed with no dashboard views

2. Limited to the pre-determined columns NextGen created with the reports

3. Complex data aggregation and logic must be performed outside of the reporting module

4. Without appropriate permissions and settings enabled, end users can cause performance issues on the production database

Built-In NextGen EHR Reporting

NextGen EHR reporting module that does not come with canned reports. Many of the NextGen EPM reporting functions exist within NextGen EHR; however, because clinical data can be so much more complicated than financial data, many clients choose custom solutions for NextGen EHR clinical data.

Advantages

The benefits of native NextGen EHR for reporting are:

1. Easy to create simple clinical reports of patient lists

2. Does not require custom development or SQL programming skills to create

3. Attach SQL queries to a report to run more complex logic

Disadvantages

The downsides of native NextGen EHR for reporting are:

1. Difficult to ascertain exact logic with the custom report creator

2. Limited with column choices unless using custom SQL

3. Without appropriate permissions and settings enabled, end users can cause performance issues on the production database

4. Doesn't allow for high-level insight into data

NextGen Reporting with SAP Crystal Reports

SAP Crystal Reports is integrated within NextGen EHR and is the general go-to for custom NextGen reports. Crystal Reports within NextGen appear the same as natively written objects. 

Advantages

The benefits of using SAP Crystal Reports with NextGen for reporting are:

1. An excellent option for forms and order requisitions which require particular formats

2. Efficiently run reports by practice, patient, or encounter just be choosing where you save the report without parameters

3. Launch reports from within a template

4. View within the NextGen EHR

Disadvantages

The downsides of using SAP Crystal Reports with NextGen for reporting are:

1. Difficult to create and requires more programming time for a simple report

2. Cannot automate the running of the reports

3. Additional purchase for the software to write reports with

4. Advanced Crystal Reports features only come with more expensive Crystal Server

NextGen Reporting with Microsoft SSRS

TempDev's favorite, and most often recommended, reporting solution is Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Microsoft SSRS comes with your Microsoft SQL Server licensing and once installed, is easy to deploy reports to. TempDev also has inexpensive, pre-built NextGen EPM & EHR Microsoft SSRS reports if you want to try out some reports before full investing in a reporting infrastructure. 

Advantages

The benefits of using Microsoft SSRS with NextGen for reporting are:

1. SQL programmers can easily create reports

2. Dashboard level views of data are easily displayed

3. Handles large datasets well and exports to other Microsoft products including Excel better than any other reporting software

4. Launches with a web browser and works with active directory security 

5. Define which database reports are run against, so production performance is never impacted

6. Automate report runs with subscriptions to email or save to a directory automatically

7. Works within Sharepoint

Disadvantages

The downsides of using Microsoft SSRS with NextGen for reporting are:

1. All parameters for patient and encounters must be added to the report

2. Requires SQL knowledge and in-depth knowledge of NextGen's database

3. Requires additional installation of SSRS and IIS on your report server

NextGen Reporting with Business Intelligence Solutions

If your organization has decided it wants to take, it's reporting to the next level, a NextGen Business Intelligence solution may be the right for you. NextGen organizations are most frequently choosing Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, and Domo as their Business Intelligence software.

Advantages

The benefits of using Business Intelligence with NextGen are:

1. Easily create reports once datasets are designed to display high-level data with drill-down capabilities

2. Aggregate and display data from multiple, disparate systems

3. Give executives insight into all the NextGen data without continually having to create individual reports and parameters

Disadvantages

The downsides of using Business Intelligence with NextGen are:

1. Requires additional software purchase and maintenance

2. Best if run against a data warehouse with normalized, scrubbed data

3. Often requires a BI team or consulting group like TempDev to maintain 

TempDev Advantage

If you need assistance with deciding which NextGen reporting option is right for you, the consultants at TempDev can help you navigate the correct course. Call us at 888.TEMP.DEV, or contact us here to get started on creating your next set of reports!