“Right now, healthcare organizations have to go through some pretty tricky maneuvers to link patient data across varied systems and settings. It’s possible to connect patient info electronically through database hacks, but more often than not, matching patients to clinical data gets done by hand.
Given the insane complexity of the existing system, would it make sense to create a national patient identification number for every U.S. patient? The question is worth revisiting, given the immense level of error and wasted time generated by the existing system. After all, not only would putting an NPI in place make it easier to track patients within a hospital or health system, it would simplify the rollout of HIEs dramatically, wouldn’t it?”
Article
Anne Zieger, EMR and EHR, 25 January 2012
