normalization confusion

  • Hi,

    I have the following tables which describe an organization of clinics, which can be members of particular networks, and the physicians that work at those clinics.

    NETWORK_TBL

    networkID PK

    NETWORKAFFIL_TBL

    affiliationID PK

    networkID FK

    clinicID FK

    CLINIC_TBL

    clinicID PK

    PHYSLKP_TBL

    physLkpID PK

    clinicID FK

    physicianID FK

    PHYSICIAN_TBL

    physicianID PK

    My problem lies with trying to represent the insurance contracts that can be held by the networks or the clinics or the individual providers. The following tables are my attempt to represent these contracts:

    INSURANCEPLAN_TBL

    insplanID PK

    NETWORKCONTRACTS_TBL

    ncID PK

    networkID FK

    insplanID FK

    CLINICCONTRACTS_TBL

    ccID PK

    clinicID FK

    insplanID FK

    PHYSCONTRACTS_TBL

    pcID PK

    physicianID FK

    insplanID FK

    Here is what I am struggling with: physician's effective dates with insurance contracts (whether they're held by the network or clinic or by individual physician) will vary as they come onto the contract and are credentialed. I am at a loss for how to integrate this into the model above. It's almost like I need a

    CONTRACTEFFECTIVE_TBL

    effectiveID PK

    insplanID FK

    physicianID FK

    clinicID FK - because physicians can be on different contracts if they work at more than one clinic effective date DATETIME

    I need to be able to list the insurance plans accepted at each clinic (which can be based on what plans the network accepts, the clinic itself and the physicians that work there) and also the effective status of the physicians for these contracts. I am sorry if this question is a little long but I want to present my problem clearly so maybe someone can help me. I would really appreciate any advice, whether it's to completely alter my above table architecture or to point out that I'm an idiot and this is how simple it is to resolve. At any rate, any advice would be much appreciated.

    Thank you for your time,

    John

  • It's kind of complicated what you are describing and a little confusing. A diagram would help, /images/networkimg.jpg. I changed a few names and for the linking tables, you don't need a separate PK, the two FKs should make a PK.

    I think you are basically on the right track, but it could be problematic what you are doing in that you will have lots of data to manage. I do have a question, is the effective date for a plan truly different for a particular physician at a particular clinic for a particular network? In other words, do all of these form some type of PK for the effective date. If so, then you might need all three in there, but that is a ton of data to enter and maintain for users. Or is the effective date between the phys and the plan? If so, then add it to the PhysPlan table.

    Hope this helps or there are some other ideas out there.

    Steve Jones

    sjones@sqlservercentral.com

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones

    http://www.dkranch.net

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