2

I'm a brand new business analyst for a company that currently maintains its second-hand customer list (given by medical distributors, consisting mostly of hospitals, doctor's offices and smaller distributors) in Excel, by hand, line-at-a-time, 70+ thousand entries. If this wasn't enough of a headache, they're basically using Google to catch changes in things like parent company/child company information, medical specialties, mergers & acquisitions, name changes, etc, etc.

A large part of the problem is that these entities don't have a UID for easy tracking across changes. To that end, I've started trying to cobble together a webconnector to grab HIPAA NPI statistics, using the NPI as a UID and taking weekly updates from the HIPAA website for company updates. It's not perfect, but it's a start. I've spent a couple hours today looking at public API resources for company EINs via the SEC's EDGAR, but I don't seem to be getting very far.

Does anyone else have any ideas on open resources to keep a customer list updated via automation so I can go back to, y'know, analyzing stuff?

|improve this question
  • I see this as a multi stage process. Even if you don't have today UIDs to other resources: DB, BvD you can start adding them, this would make things easier in the future. Also, considet the company's url - many use it in their reporting to the SEC. This could be pretty unique hint. Then for USbyou also have the IRS id, Aldo reported to the SEC. Then, you can start pulling in different sources like OpenCorporates, Wikidata, Unigraph to stay up to date. – marfi Feb 15 '18 at 9:32

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.