topic SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group in SAS Health and Life Sciences

SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

zekeT_sasaholic — Fri, 05 May 2017 16:18:54 GMT

Hello.

Our group has a seat on the CCW VRDC and is using the data and SAS environment there.

We've learned a lot about the environment and are going thru lots of changes that deal with:

* - Code Work Flow

* - Project scalability

* - Code Updates/Change Control

* - Team management/prioritization

* - Q/A Testing of code locally before running on VRDC

* - Code refactoring/Changes/Updates in order to allow running easier on VRDC

And others.

I'd like to form a SIG and find others who use the VRDC and deal with some of the same challenges.

Is anyone else out there using the VRDC?

Our code, usage ranges from Freqs, to Stats, macros.

But one thing is certain - how it looks(looked) on our local environment is not optimal now for how we must run it in VRDC.

Please contact me if you are interested in maybe a small virtual forum first?

Would love to start knowledge sharing and exchange ideas.

I've searched for something like that and havent found it. If someone knows of a group I can join that would also be appreciated.

Thx

Zeke Torres

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

fredtrotter — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:27:26 GMT

Zeke,

I am not even sure what a SAS SIG is... but I am definitely interested in a ensuring that VRDC users are getting together to collaborate and learn!

With that in mind... we have started a Google Group for VRDC users here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/vrdc

And we are also going to try to get a user group meetup going at the next datapalooza!

http://www.academyhealth.org/events/site/2018-health-datapalooza

It will likely be a "pre day" to the conference and will also include some kind of night function during the conference.. (not entirely sure... )

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

zekeT_sasaholic — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 19:38:56 GMT

Hi Everyone.

Just want to comment and update that there is more information on the VRDC and our small group is up and open.

So Fred does have that google group going.

We likely should be posting more information here too.

I've also started a Git repo to share more facts too.

https://github.com/zeketorres/vrdc

Would love to gather and exchange best practices, ideas and so on with like minded people.

Best

Zeke

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

zekeT_sasaholic — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 19:50:27 GMT

https://www.resdac.org/cms-virtual-research-data-center-vrdc

https://www.resdac.org/cms-virtual-research-data-center-vrdc-faqs

https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/research-and-data/index.html

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-announces-new-data-sharing-tool

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

zekeT_sasaholic — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 02:06:16 GMT

Hi everyone.

So I’ve got code and data that I’d like to share with everyone.

What I’ve done is going to sound nuts but I hope the madness makes sense.

And frankly it will make sense to the right people who understand the nature and reasons for all this.

Long Term Purpose:

Help people work with data and code for the VRDC.

One Needed Element:

We need "local" data that looks like what we experience on the VRDC.

The best way to show the usefulness of the code on VRDC is to use locally on our own machines with data that "looks" like the VRDC.

The Problem or Challenges:

Often I hear about how teams are working crazy to get "good" code ready for running on the VRDC.

Or they code one version for the VRDC and another version for something "not on the vrdc".

Teams inadvertently spend too much time with different versions of CODE and those code differences can cause issues. A "minor" difference of our code on the VRDC can cause us to spend time finding out "why"?

A part of the Challenge:

This leads to teams working on the same code, project but in different locations. That makes it hard to use GIT and version control.

That also makes it hard to have teams use more than one syntax.

Long Term Benefit:

I've got a method that works on crafting code locally - prep, QA and Code Review then we run proven code on the VRDC.

In order for that to work we need a local copy of some useful data to mechanically test our code.

This is that copy of data to ensure what we've built and tested between "us" locally is in fact ready for the VRDC.

What we Want:

1. We want to code "local" to ensure MORE of our team tests and vets our code.

2. We want to code "local" to ensure our code CAN work before we hit large data on VRDC.

3. We want to test and sample "local" as much as we can and prepare novice SAS users for real VRDC work.

This method of "code local" and "run proven code on VRDC" - ensures higher quality.

So in order to accomplish that - we need a LOCAL copy of data that emulates the VRDC data as much as possible.

More To Share:

I will share more of how we can use this overall process and GIT to improve our team workflow.

Again - free. I just need to see people want this and i'm happy to share what i have and know - for free.

What I've Done with PUF Data:

I’ve taken the PUF CMS data and spun it into VRDC versions for everyone to use.

I’ll release the actual code that produces this sample data later on. It’s not passing my ocd perfection standards just yet.

For now - lets start with this data and what it has and offers.

Details on what I've done with PUF to VRDC Data:

I’ve got that PUF synth data 2008 thru 2010 data.

Spun up thru 2016. Yep - anyone with knowledge about the PUF data will have questions.

I'll write up more of the "what was done" in my git repo as release notes.

PUF was turned into: MAX - By year, By State

PUF was turned into: RIF - By year, By month

PUF was turned into: MBSF - By year

If a "field" was compatible as PUF - i flipped it to a VRDC configuration - as much as possible.

Heck I even crafted some synthetic ICD10 values to pepper in there. Again - more details soon.

I've even dealt with components like HCPCS and also peppered some values from the PUF pharma table.

Again the goal is for more people to have a analog way of working w code and data that matches the VRDC.

Why?

Because the code I’m releasing as well is really helpful. Well imho.
Macros to create views and spin thru years and numerous data tables that are found in the crazy VRDC libs.
Macros to create rate ratios.
Macros for summary cubes.
Method of code that allows toggle between say Max and RIF

To me that "toggle" code - ability to quickly switch between versions like RIF, LDS, MAX is very important. Again. All that code I'm going to share needs a place for people to test and play with. Hence the data im sharing here. Not to mention the need for people to learn how to use RSubmit to really get performance improvement from the VRDC.

I feel like some of these methods can not accurately be tested or demonstrated without a useful local environment.

My GIT VRDC repo will be one place to start to find the Google Drive link.

I'll update the repo I've listed below with Google Drive Links to the data this Monday 2/24.

Max data: Its ready. RIF data: Its ready. So you can download those zip files and get that set.

This way as i release macros and other code for you to test and play with - there is a useful place to test that as well.

If anyone is interested in a walk thru overview - contact me.

I'll see about putting a short webinar tutorial in early March.

I’ve also drafted and building a class on GIT for teams who work w various syntax languages and sas for the vrdc. That will be for the fall sas conferences. But if time permits. I might be able to sneak in a “practice” class before the conferences in summer so I can rehearse. So might ask for one or two people to take part of it for free.

I'm also attending SAS Global Forum in DC next month.

If anyone is attending - lets gather and I'm happy to cover these concepts in an Ad-Hoc presentation.

So I hope this is all of value to people.

Code great things!

Best

Zeke Torres

GIT: https://github.com/zeketorres/vrdc

#PUF #CMS #VRDC #LDS #RIF #Medicare #Medicaid #Claims #Healthcare #HealthCareAnalytics #Resdac #AdvancedMacros #Macros #Rsubmit #MBSF #GIT #ICD9 #ICD10 #Pharma #NPI #Physician #HCPCS

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

swyatt — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 15:15:37 GMT

Love this idea! We don't yet have a seat, but planning toward it and wanting to have all of our ducks in a row before we jump in. I don't currently have the local data you need for testing, but I would love to be part of the webinar and will do a little more searching through our datasets to see if we have something that would be useful.

~Shannon

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

zekeT_sasaholic — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 14:46:00 GMT

I just refreshed the data on the readme.md in that repo I mentioned. The link is fixed.

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

dgritt — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 15:50:54 GMT

How do we get access to the Google Group?

Re: SAS on CCW - VRDC - Looking to start a Special Interest Group

adamsmitt — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 14:36:19 GMT

Hi there, it is a great idea. How can I get access to this group? Thanks