ECRI Institute: Patient Matching Is a Leading Patient Safety Concern

AHIMA March 13, 2020
Mary Butler

Patient safety experts at the ECRI Institute were concerned enough about patient matching in electronic health records (EHRs) to put it on their annual “Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations” this year, for the first time since 2016.

Lorraine Possanza, DPM, JD, MBE, program director, Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety at the ECRI Institute, says patient matching’s spot on the list isn’t necessarily due to an uptick in adverse events tied to patient identification issues.

“I think it’s on there for several reasons—now that there’s an increased use of health information exchanges and more importantly, I think with the increased use of prescription drug monitoring platforms—I think the issue of matching became one of greater prevalence,” Possanza...

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