Study examines costs, benefits of unique patient identifiers
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, October 27, 2008
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Providing every person with a unique patient identification number would be worth the high price tag, according to an October 20 RAND press release. Benefits of the potentially $11 billion effort include:
-
A reduction in medical errors
-
Simplified electronic record use
-
Increased efficiency
-
Increased patient privacy
"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," Richard Hillestad, senior principal researcher at RAND and study author, said in the press release. "The alternative is to rely on a system that produces too many errors and puts patients' privacy at risk."
For more information, click here.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Comments
0 comments on “Study examines costs, benefits of unique patient identifiers ”
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Identify potential Medicaid RAC target areas
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Q&A: Follow CMS' coding guidelines when using modifier -25
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- CMS has reformulated payments for some bilateral procedures
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- ED-to-inpatient transfers are flawed with safety gaps
- Searched
