PATIENT IDENTITY AND MATCHING
Patient matching is the practice of connecting disparate patient records across different medical providers or facilities. A patient visiting two different doctors or two different hospitals should yield the same medical record, but the data shows this does not usually happen.
Inconsistent patient matching creates a handful of problems for the patient and the provider.
Consequences of mismatched data
Data-matching errors present a considerable threat to the delivery of suitable care and patient safety and carry major consequences. Some of the consequences of mismatched patient data include:
Mismatched patient data and incomplete medical history can
lead to potentially fatal consequences. Mismatched data could result in incorrect or unnecessary medical care.
An example would be if a patient is not matched to the correct record, a drug could be prescribed to the wrong patient. If the clinician does not know of the patient’s drug history, a fatal outcome may result.
Patient safety is always a major priority, but there is also a significant cost burden on the health system if there is a patient matching error.
POTENTIAL SOLUTION WITH SECURITY CONSEQUENCES
A common solution is a national patient identifier. An NPI is similar to a Social Security number, where a number code would be used across all providers to identify individual patients. This would replace the current system that uses a name, address, or date of birth.
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