Healthcare Orgs Call Congress to Remove National Patient Identifier Ban

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and over 100 other healthcare organizations sent a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees calling to remove a funding ban for a national patient health identifier standard.

The letter notes that outdated rider language in Section 510 of the Fiscal Year 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations bill prohibits HHS from spending federal dollars to adopt a national unique patient identifier standard.

“For more than two decades, innovation and industry progress has been stifled due to a narrow interpretation of this language, included in Labor-HHS bills since FY1999,” the healthcare organizations wrote. “Without the ability of clinicians to correctly connect a patient with their medical record, lives have been lost and medical errors have needlessly occurred.”

Inconsistency in patient identification also leads to financial burdens for patients, clinicians, and healthcare organizations. The letter cited a 2021 Blackbook report that revealed errors from inaccurate patient identification cost the average hospital $2.5 million and the healthcare system over $6.7 billion annually.

The letter pointed out that removing the language in Section 510 of the bill would allow HHS to evaluate patient identification solutions and collaborate with the private sector to identify a cost-effective, secure national patient ID strategy.

“For the past three fiscal years, the House of Representatives has removed the ban in a bipartisan manner from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill,” the healthcare organizations wrote.

Last year, the draft bill first released from the Senate Appropriations Committee also removed Section 510.

“We urge the Committee to continue the bipartisan support of repeal in Congress and ensure that Section 510, the archaic funding ban on a national unique health identifier, is NOT included in the FY2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill,” the organizations wrote.