Hospitals and health systems have been experiencing arguably the most challenging phase they ever did due to COVID-19. This is not really surprising - whenever such health emergencies occur, the pressure is mostly on healthcare providers because that’s the place where all the affected people have to go. However, U.S. healthcare providers have been facing a plethora of issues for years. Some of the notable issues they face are interoperability issues, data breaches, preventable medical errors, medical identity theft, medical record mix-ups, and more. However, one of the problems that is severely underrated is patient identification. Unfortunately, while many caregivers still don’t clearly understand the need to ID patients accurately, others are clamoring for a standardized patient identifier. Let’s explore the need for positive patient identification, the top reasons for ensuring it, and how responsible caregivers are achieving it.
Patient identification is quite a mess - even though it’s crucial
There is a specific reason as to why hospitals and health systems cannot ID patients accurately. You see, there was supposed to be a state-funded, standardized patient identifier almost two decades ago. Since it would’ve been used by all healthcare providers, proper patient identification would’ve been a piece of cake - ensuring proper treatments, reducing redundancies, improving healthcare outcomes, and more.
However, for several reasons, a ban was placed on the funding of the UPI (unique patient identifier). From that point onwards, hospitals started using different ways to ID patients, and as a result, improper ways of doing so led to patient misidentification, preventable medical errors, medical record mix-ups, mistreatments, hospital readmissions, and even medical identity theft!
Even during the pandemic, frontline healthcare workers had a hard time identifying patients - tests were being sent to the wrong patients, and in many cases, nurses couldn’t even find the patients!
Moreover, virtually every caregiver has suffered from patient misidentification, and as all of them understand the importance of identifying patients, most of them are waiting for the UPI to be created. Each year, caregivers, healthcare experts, and industry pundits come together to demand the ban to be lifted, but each year, it’s still in place. Fortunately, not every caregiver is suffering from the consequences of misidentifying patients - the responsible ones can ID patients accurately - more on that later.
While that’s the current scenario, let’s take a look at the topmost benefits of ensuring accurate patient identification in hospitals and health systems.
Top 6 benefits of identifying patients accurately
It ensures the right treatment
Right off the bat, whenever hospitals ID their patients accurately, it leads to physicians having access to the patient’s EHR. Armed with accurate information regarding lab tests, previous diagnoses, medical history, medications, immunization dates, and more, physicians can make informed decisions and provide personalized care and the right treatment to their patients.
It improves patient safety
Technically, this is an extension of the previous point. Whenever patients are accurately identified, it leads to using the correct EHRs, improving healthcare outcomes, preventing medical errors and medication administration errors - improving patient safety in the process.
It prevents patient mix-ups
Patient mix-ups occur due to medical record errors such as duplicates or overlays - leading to dangerous consequences that might include detrimental healthcare outcomes. Identifying patients accurately right from the start eliminates the chances of patient mix-ups, preventing duplicates and overlays down the line. As a result, even transplant mix-ups can be prevented if patients are identified accurately at any touchpoint!
It ensures patient data integrity
Patient data corruption is one of the many consequences of patient identification errors. When one patient’s information is fragmented into multiple records (either duplicates or overlays), it leads to patient data integrity failure as the information isn’t relevant, unfragmented, and incorrect. Accurate patient identification ensures that high-quality data is fed into EHRs, making them relevant, appropriate, and useful. Not only can this be used for treating patients, but it ensures that the investments or solutions that require patient data can be used optimally - increasing ROI.
It prevents medical identity theft
One of the main reasons fraudsters get away with committing medical ID theft is because hospitals and health systems aren’t able to identify them as fraudsters. Healthcare providers that ensure patient identification can prevent medical identity theft in real-time. When the fraudsters attempt to pass off as the patient, accurate patient identification helps hospitals red-flag them as the fraudster’s information doesn’t match with that of the patients - preventing fraudulent cases down the line.
It reduces denied claims
Claim denials occur because of billing and coding errors - most of which can be traced back to duplicate medical records, overlays, or patient misidentification. When hospitals ensure that patients are identified accurately right from the start, all the information is fed to accurate medical records. This helps in reducing billing and coding errors and ensuring that the payers receive consistent claims - reducing claim denials in the process.
Many hospitals can ID patients accurately
These are not myths - responsible healthcare providers are actually ensuring accurate patient identification. For instance, a touchless patient identification platform can help healthcare providers ensure patient safety, reduce medical errors, and improve healthcare outcomes - providing patients with the care they deserve.
