Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Summary Background: Patient matching is a key barrier to achieving interoperability. Patient demographic elements must be consistently collected over time and region to be valuable elements for patient matching. Objectives: We sought to determine what patient demographic attributes are collected at multiple institutions in the United States and see how their availability changes over time and across clinical sites. Methods: We compiled a list of 36 demographic elements that stakeholders previously identified as essential patient demographic attributes that should be collected for the purpose of linking patient records. We studied a convenience sample of 9 health care systems from geographically distinct sites around the country. We identified changes in the availability of individual patient demographic attributes over time and across clinical sites. Results: Several attributes were consistently available over the study period (2005–2014) including last name (99.96%), first name (99.95%), date of birth (98.82%), gender/sex (99.73%), postal code (94.71%), and full street address (94.65%). Other attributes changed significantly from 2005–2014: Social security number (SSN) availability declined from 83.3% to 50.44% (p<0.0001). Email address availability increased from 8.94% up to 54% availability (p<0.0001). Work phone number increased from 20.61% to 52.33% (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Overall, first name, last name, date of birth, gender/sex and address were widely collected across institutional sites and over time. Availability of emerging attributes such as email and phone numbers are increasing while SSN use is declining. Understanding the relative availability of patient attributes can inform strategies for optimal matching in healthcare. Citation: Culbertson A, Goel S, Madden MB, Jackson KL, Carton T, Waitman R, Liu M, Krishnamurthy A, Hall L, Cappella N, Visweswaran S, Safaeinili N, Becich MJ, Applegate R, Bernstam E, Rothman R, Matheny M, Lipori G, Bian J, Hogan W, Bell D, Martin A, Grannis S, Klann J, Sutphen R, O’Hara AB, Kho A. The building blocks of interoperability: A multisite analysis of patient demographic attributes available for matching. Appl Clin Inform 2017; 8: 322–336 https://doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2016-11-RA-0196
Source: Applied Clinical Informatics
Authors: Adam Culbertson, Satyender Goel, Margaret Madden, Niloufar Safaeinili, Kathryn Jackson, Thomas Carton, Russ Waitman, Mei Liu, Ashok Krishnamurthy, Lauren Hall, Nickie Cappella, Shyam Visweswaran, Michael Becich, Reuben Applegate, Elmer Bernstam, Russell Rothman, Michael Matheny, Gloria Lipori, Jiang Bian, William Hogan, Douglas Bell, Andrew Martin, Shaun Grannis, Jeff Klann, Rebecca Sutphen, Amy O’Hara, Abel Kho
Institutions: Northwestern University, Louisiana Public Health Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Baylor Scott & White Health, University of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt University, University of Florida, University of California, Los Angeles, Regenstrief Institute, Harvard University, University of South Florida, United States Census Bureau
Language: English
Subfield: Health Information Management
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS), Together: Transforming and Translating Discovery to Improve Health, G3345260134, G3369916161, Development and Evaluation of a Learning Electronic Medical Record System, G4826122223, G580208524, University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute
OpenAlex ID: W2604800504