Identity Crisis: An Examination of the Costs and Benefits of a Unique Patient Identifier for the U.S. Health Care System
Source: RAND Corporation
From press release:

Creating a unique patient identification number for every person in the United States would facilitate a reduction in medical errors, simplify the use of electronic medical records, increase overall efficiency and help protect patient privacy, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Although creating such an identification system could cost as much as $11 billion, the effort would likely return even more in benefits to the nation’s health care system, according to researchers from RAND Health.

“Establishing a system of unique patient identification numbers would help the nation to enjoy the full benefits of electronic medical records and improve the quality of medical care,” said Richard Hillestad, the study’s lead author and a senior principal researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “The alternative is to rely on a system that produces too many errors and puts patients’ privacy at risk.”

Federal legislation passed over a decade ago supported the creation of a unique patient identifier system, but privacy and security concerns have stalled efforts to put the proposal into use.

As adoption of health information technology expands nationally and more patient records are computerized, there have been increasing calls to create a system that would make it easier to retrieve records across varying systems such as those used by doctors and hospitals.

+ Summary (PDF; 159 KB)
+ Full Report (PDF; 601 KB)

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