On January 15, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a health information technology report titled, “Approaches and Challenges to Electronically Matching Patient’s Records across Providers.”
Medical records are often shared between physicians electronically, and are matched based on demographic data. Because there are often inconsistencies in formatting between providers, incorrect matching of patient medical records is common. This can lead to improper care if a physician uses the incorrect medical record when treating a patient. The GAO report explores different solutions to improve patient record matching, including standardizing the way demographic information is collected and recorded.
Below is a PDF of the complete GAO report, and a link to the report can also be found here.
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