How two solutions combine to combat patient misidentification
Joaquim Neto, VP of Healthcare, Verato
Tom Meinert, Senior Product Manager, Imprivata
Rebecca Slisz, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Imprivata
Patient misidentification has long plagued the healthcare system. Currently, up to 10% of individuals get identified incorrectly when they present for care, posing serious consequences for patients and care providers alike. In today’s consumer-focused world, patients are becoming more aware of the risks of misidentification and the importance of having secure and complete medical records. Informed patients are now forced to behave like consumers and, more than ever, are making buying decisions about healthcare in the same way they make decisions about other purchases.
To address this problem in a more comprehensive way, Imprivata and Verato, two leaders in the arena of patient identification and patient matching, have embarked on a partnership and recently hosted a conversation on what they’re hearing in the market and how they are positioned to help fix healthcare. The webinar focused on how the two innovative organizations are providing a new approach to solving the challenges of patient identity for the nation’s largest and most complex healthcare organizations.
Patient misidentification causes both clinical problems for patients and financial challenges for the health systems and providers caring for those patients. When not matched properly, patients may receive the wrong treatment or encounter other complications, because of an inaccurate and mismatched medical history. These missteps erode patient satisfaction and result in lost revenue, burdening the healthcare system further.
Imprivata and Verato recognize the value in being able to confidently and securely identify patients as they enter a healthcare organization and as they navigate their healthcare experiences. The use of Imprivata’s biometric authentication approach, which is the leading positive patient identification solution for healthcare, allows for absolute certainty that a patient is linked to his or her medical record. As the pioneer in referential matching technology, Verato ensures that only one record exists for a patient. The resulting combination of biometric authentication and accurate matching gives control and confidence back to patients, who gain the assurance that their health records are accurate and safe.
To support accurate patient identification, Imprivata offers PatientSecure, a palm vein scanner that uses biometric technology to identify individuals. In conjunction with PatientSecure, Verato harnesses its referential matching, a complementary process that uses a reference database of demographic data to resolve duplicate records. These solutions work together to simultaneously identify both a patient’s identity and a patient’s records, making sure there is only one of each and eliminating the possibility of duplicate records.
Although patient misidentification has long been a challenge, industry trends are making it more necessary for healthcare organizations to implement solutions that help to match duplicate patient records. In addition, regulations on interoperability as required by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 have been introduced by the ONC and CMS, with impact in 2020 and beyond. These regulations are driven by the need to reduce expense of (currently $1T annually) and improve the outcomes for Medicare and Medicaid patients by transitioning from fee-for-service to value-based care. The care coordination required to support value-based care is impossible without interoperability, and interoperability is impossible without consistency in matching patients to their records.
To listen to the Imprivata-Verato webinar on combating patient misidentification, please click here.