Abstract
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.
| Language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages | 322-336 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Applied Clinical Informatics |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2017 |
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Keywords
- Data collection
- Data completeness
- Data processing
- Data validation and verification
- Master patient index
- Record linkage
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Informatics
- Computer Science Applications
- Health Information Management
Cite this
}
The building blocks of inter-operability : A multisite analysis of patient demographic attributes available for matching. / Culbertson, Adam; Goel, Satyender; Madden, Margaret B.; Safaeinili, Niloufar; Jackson, Kathryn L.; Carton, Thomas; Waitman, Russ; Liu, Mei; Krishnamurthy, Ashok; Hall, Lauren; Cappella, Nickie; Visweswaran, Shyam; Becich, Michael J.; Applegate, Reuben; Bernstam, Elmer; Rothman, Russell; Matheny, Michael; Lipori, Gloria; Bian, Jiang; Hogan, William; Bell, Douglas; Martin, Andrew; Grannis, Shaun; Klann, Jeff; Sutphen, Rebecca; O’Hara, Amy B.; Kho, Abel.
In: Applied Clinical Informatics, Vol. 8, No. 2, 01.01.2017, p. 322-336.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - The building blocks of inter-operability
T2 - Applied Clinical Informatics
AU - Culbertson,Adam
AU - Goel,Satyender
AU - Madden,Margaret B.
AU - Safaeinili,Niloufar
AU - Jackson,Kathryn L.
AU - Carton,Thomas
AU - Waitman,Russ
AU - Liu,Mei
AU - Krishnamurthy,Ashok
AU - Hall,Lauren
AU - Cappella,Nickie
AU - Visweswaran,Shyam
AU - Becich,Michael J.
AU - Applegate,Reuben
AU - Bernstam,Elmer
AU - Rothman,Russell
AU - Matheny,Michael
AU - Lipori,Gloria
AU - Bian,Jiang
AU - Hogan,William
AU - Bell,Douglas
AU - Martin,Andrew
AU - Grannis,Shaun
AU - Klann,Jeff
AU - Sutphen,Rebecca
AU - O’Hara,Amy B.
AU - Kho,Abel
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Data collection
KW - Data completeness
KW - Data processing
KW - Data validation and verification
KW - Master patient index
KW - Record linkage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018912311&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85018912311&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4338/ACI-2016-11-RA-0196
DO - 10.4338/ACI-2016-11-RA-0196
M3 - Article
VL - 8
SP - 322
EP - 336
JO - Applied Clinical Informatics
JF - Applied Clinical Informatics
SN - 1869-0327
IS - 2
ER -