MARINA DEL REY, Calif., Aug. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — 4medica announced today that two of the company’s patient identity matching customers will be featured session speakers at the upcoming 2018 ONC Interoperability Forum in Washington, D.C., August 6—8. Hosted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the forum attracts the nation’s health technology leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors. Over the course of the forum, these leaders will discuss and formulate solutions to achieving true health data interoperability.
Patient identity matching is a critical component of this objective, yet has been a struggle for many healthcare organizations in the absence of a national patient ID. With this persistent challenge as the backdrop, The Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) and New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) will be featured presenters in the session track “Embracing Change: Adopting a New Approach to Matching Patients.”
Presenters from the two organizations will include Shelley Mannino-Marosi, Associate Director, MiHIN; Jim Cavanagh, Executive Director, NJII; and John Novak, Senior Director of Healthcare Delivery Systems, NJII.
“MiHIN is excited to share our experiences in patient matching with ONC and its attendees,” said Mannino-Marosi. “Since MiHIN went live in May 2017 with our patient matching services in Michigan, we are sending over 1.3 million more Admission, Discharge, Transfer Notifications to care team members per week. Our successes go hand-in-hand with the continuing support and encouragement of our stakeholders.”
NJII also weighed in.
“Unfortunately, patient mismatching is a systemic problem of our healthcare system that drives costs and creates safety concerns for patients,” said Cavanagh. “I believe, however, that NJII with the help of our technology partners will largely resolve the discrepancies that occur when transferring patient data and will drive accuracy in matching well over 90 percent.”
The two organizations, both 4medica customers, will describe how they are overcoming lack of a national patient ID with a new approach that includes 4medica’s Big Data MPI, a master patient index technology designed for rapid, large scale use. Built to process millions of identities and transactions a day, the 4medica solution is adept at identifying duplicate records, and eliminating all but the most complete and accurate record. Taking this several steps further, 4medica technology can also automatically update missing fields in master records with the right patient data.
EHRs store millions of patient records, using different data attributes and identifiers. This makes it difficult to match incoming patient data to master patient records and sets the stage for a mismatch. Or, confronted with multiple records for the same patient, administrators create a new master record—and add yet another duplicate record to the system. Both scenarios increase the risk of medical errors.
As such, patient mismatching costs the healthcare industry millions of dollars a year and even lives.
A recent Black Book Research survey found that 18 percent of the average hospital’s patient records are duplicates—and in the absence of master patient index solutions, hospitals achieve only a 24 percent match rate when exchanging records with other organizations.
Given the scope of the problem, the ONC Interoperability Forum’s Patient Identity Matching track will feature 10 different speaking sessions on the topic, including the session led by MiHIN and NJII.
“Mismatching patients is one of the most dangerous errors in healthcare, and like so many challenges today, stems in part from the lack of interoperability among different EHR systems. We are gratified that both MiHIN and NJII will be tackling this issue head on at the ONC Interoperability Forum and believe they will spark a long-needed conversation about how we can end patient mismatching once and for all,” said Gregg Church, president, 4medica.
Members of the media interested in learning more about patient identity matching, or who wish to speak to 4medica executives at the ONC Interoperability Forum, may contact Stephanie Janard at sjanard@acmarketingpr.com or 828-288-2831.
About 4medica
4medica provides the industry’s leading SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Big Data MPI and clinical data exchange platform to help healthcare organizations of diverse types create a seamless view of the patient care experience and further drive better health outcomes. The 4medica Big Data MPI and ClinXdata Clinical Data Exchange platform integrate with and build upon disparate systems to facilitate patient identity management and interoperable data exchange across various care settings to promote care continuity. The cloud computing model is scalable, lower cost, maintenance-free, easy to use and deployable in a few months or less, eliminating large capital outlays or resource utilization. 4medica connects hundreds of organizations including ACOS, HIEs, hospitals, health systems, physicians, laboratories, and radiology imaging centers. Learn more at www.4medica.com and www.bigdatampi.com.
About Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services
The Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MIHIN) is Michigan’s state-designated entity to improve healthcare quality, efficiency, and patient safety by sharing of electronic health information statewide, helping reduce costs for patients, providers, and payers. MiHIN is a nonprofit, public-private collaboration that includes stakeholders from the State of Michigan, Health Information Exchanges that serve Michigan, health systems and providers, health plans/payers, pharmacies, and the Governor’s Health Information Technology Commission. For more information please visit https://mihin.org.
About New Jersey Innovation Institute
New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) is an NJIT corporation that applies the intellectual and technological resources of the state’s science, technology and design university to challenges identified by industry partners. Through its Innovation Labs (iLabs), NJII brings NJIT expertise to key economic sectors, including healthcare delivery systems, bio-pharmaceutical production, civil infrastructure, defense and homeland security, and financial services.
NJII’s Healthcare Delivery Systems iLab mission is to create a “Data Driven Transformation” innovation ecosystem where government funded experiments create solutions for healthcare problems that increase quality, lower costs, reduce physician burden, and enhance the patient experience. The ilab drives innovation for providers, hospitals, health systems and other stakeholders through its Garden Practice Transformation Network, The New Jersey Health Information Network, Innovation as a Service; and Incentive Payment Programs that include the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, Promoting Interoperability, Physician Quality Reporting System, Accountable Care Organization and Delivery System Reform Incentive Program.