The Continuing Problem of Duplicate EHR Records for the Same Patient

I have previously blogged about the chronic and continuing problem of duplicate EHR records (see:Duplicate Patient Records as a Major and Costly EHR and EMPI Problem). Think of the problem in this way: it's relatively easy for a hospital registrar to create a new patient record but very risky to merge two nominally identical patient records because they may not represent the same person. This reluctance to merge records results in hidden data that may be critical in the care of a particular patient. A recent article dealt with this problem (see:Why Is It So Hard to Match Patients With Their Medical Records?) and below is an excerpt from it:In the half-century since EHR technology tiptoed into health care, hospitals and doctors have used hundreds of vendors, each of which is constantly updating its technology, thereby creating new opportunities for inconsistencies.Today, on average, 18 percent of patient records within organizations are duplicates....And the match rates between organizations — for example, between a doctor’s office and the hospital — can be extremely low....That means physicians are often unaware of information that patients assume they know: test results, diagnoses, medications, and more....On its face, patient-matching looks like a simple problem to fix, until you look closely.One root problem is that the health care industry has been consolidating for years, and the pace of mergers is only speeding up. Take the example of Northwell Health. A...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Computer Security Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Research Medicolegal Issues Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs