National Patient Identifier

We are moving towards an environment that will allow us to exchange important patient information with all providers and payers of healthcare. The key to successful health information exchange requires an accurate means for uniquely identifying an individual to ensure privacy and safety. Even last name, first name and date of birth do not guaranty uniqueness and the use of social security numbers is not allowed. Compounding this, congress passed shortsighted legislation which prohibits government from taking any action to bring about a national patient identifier.

On one hand we have HIPAA and high concern for patient privacy while on the other, a burgeoning number of sites where people freely trade personal data and their experience regarding various types of medical treatment. If the government has its hands tied by laws, the free market and people’s interest in obtaining the best healthcare may drive the adoption of a voluntary national patient identifier.

For instance, a patient could subscribe to a service that provides a unique identifier analogous to purchasing the rights to a domain name on the Internet. They could then provide that ID to any health provider (perhaps when providing their HIPAA releases) and the provider would then link this number to their own patient ID (frequently referred to as Medical Record Number or MRN in hospitals). This would allow providers anywhere in the US to query data under the health information exchange rules currently being established.