Health Information Exchange in California
Patient matching is one of the most pressing challenges facing California’s HIE community on their road to interoperability.
Blog
The latest insights, industry commentary, and thought leadership from the Verato team
Why you should never implement an integration engine without having an enterprise master patient index (EMPI).
Why accurate patient matching is essential for an integration engine’s success.
A conventional MPI: The gift that keeps on giving
On the first day of Christmas my MPI gave me: a patient record that was incomplete.
Why using Unique IDs from third-party data providers in your patient matching can be a challenge
Verato Auto-Steward provides a much gentler and more nuanced approach to auto-merging the near-misses and finding the “not so near” misses.
Healthcare CFOs, want to save $500,000?
The complex nature and navigation of clinical details, billing information, and ultimately insurance data requires herculean efforts on behalf of hospital administrators.
Thanksgiving puns are the worst
Is your EMR or master patient index STUFFED with duplicates? Is your MPI GOBBLING up your budget? Tighten your budgetary belt with the Verato Universal MPI.
Population Health vendors shouldn’t take patient matching for granted
Population Health vendors are experts in predictive data models, risk stratification, data warehousing, reporting and a long list of other sophisticated technologies; patient matching isn’t one of them.
Recapping the 2018 MDM & Data Governance Conference in NYC
After 13 years, the industry has come a long way. First known as the Customer Data Integration (CDI) Institute, the MDM & Data Governance Summit has helped lead thousands of people and their organizations on a journey to unify and manage data by providing the requisite insight and best practices needed to improve the use of top software and data management solutions.
Why healthcare payers are finally ready for the cloud after decades of resistance
Health insurance companies, health systems and other tech companies seem to be finally getting comfortable with debunking a lot of myths around why IT teams should consider moving infrastructure to the cloud.
Biometrics and the future of patient matching and patient identification
While biometrics are a key piece of the puzzle in solving our nation’s challenges in identifying patients and linking health data to the correct patients, they are still just one piece of the puzzle.
Cloud EMPI: Hosted EMPI vs. Managed EMPI vs. SaaS EMPI
Considering a cloud-based EMPI, but unsure whether to use a hosted EMPI, a managed EMPI, or a software-as-a-service (SaaS) EMPI? Learn the benefits and challenges of each.
What is “Referential Matching?” A Primer.
Read this blog post to learn what patient matching is and why it is important, as well as what Referential Matching technology is and how it can help solve our nation’s interoperability challenges.
Five Big Takeaways from the SHIEC 2018 Conference
Last week, I got the chance to join the HIE community in Atlanta for the 2018 SHIEC Annual Conference. This is my third straight year attending, and since Verato has 15 HIE customers, SHIEC is always a particularly fun event for us. Here are five big takeaways from this year’s conference.
Gold Standard. Silver Bullet.
All conventional patient matching technologies are fundamentally the same, and fundamentally limited. Referential Matching is a fundamentally different approach to patient matching. It is the new gold standard in patient matching technology, and it is the silver bullet many organizations seek to solve their patient matching challenges.
Another Day in the Life Among Duplicate Records
I come from a big family, so I am not the only one to suffer from the St. Thomas-specific variety of patient matching woes. While we share our war stories often (only half of us have been able to finagle a period into our last names on social media, and we have all spent hours on the phone with various customer service lines), there is one anecdote that is always the first to come to mind.
What is the state of MDM? Observations from the MDM & Data Governance Conference
Last week, Verato had the opportunity to attend, speak, and exhibit at the MDM & Data Governance Conference in Chicago. Our speaking session was with Shannon Hood from Intermountain Healthcare. Our VP of Healthcare talked with Shannon about how Intermountain has used Verato and our Referential Matching technology to improve Intermountain’s stewardship productivity by 174%.
An Exciting Match
This weekend will be filled with thrilling sports matches, including the World Cup Final on Sunday. Here’s to hoping bad data doesn’t influence the match.
Your Risk Adjustment Program’s Secret Weapon: Member Data Matching
Poor patient (or member) matching plagues every single component of healthcare, often in different ways and with varying degrees of visibility into the problem. In this post, I’ll describe one healthcare initiative that suffers from poor patient matching: your healthcare organization’s risk adjustment program.
Patient Matching Underlies All of Your Projects
Healthcare’s focus on the triple aim has spawned thousands of initiatives like improving the patient experience, measuring quality and performance, and enterprise clinical integration. But each of these initiatives shares a foundational assumption that frankly should be challenged: they assume access to patient data that is uniquely identified and correctly matched.
The VHA Has an Opportunity to Get Patient Matching Right
As the largest Integrated Health System in the United State, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) gets a lot of attention for every step it might make. Existing MPI technologies cannot resolve patient identities well enough to support VHA. But our new patient identity resolution technology, the Verato Universal MPI, could support the new needs.
Three Hidden Costs of Duplicate Records
No matter how much you have invested in your EHR or enterprise master patient index (EMPI) technology, no matter how small your patient population is, and no matter how diligent your registration staff is, your EHR or EMPI is riddled with duplicate patient records, which have three hidden costs.
The Importance of Patient Matching in Mergers and Acquisitions
Death and Taxes. We have all heard the inescapable phrase that binds us under a single truism. Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are another unavoidable event that we should care about, and Referential Matching technology can help solve patient matching and identity resolution challenges during M&A activity.
Laurel, Yanny, and Patient Matching
The “Laurel-Yanny” illusion got me thinking about the healthcare industry’s patient matching challenges, and how Referential Matching technology can help.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Stephanie Street?
With a period and a space in my last name, I’ve experienced more than my fair share of duplicate records, misidentification, and the struggles of patient matching.
Referential Matching Must Be the Foundation of a National Patient Matching Strategy
We wrote a letter requesting that as part of their analysis and recommendation, the GAO consider “Referential Matching” as an alternative solution to existing patient matching technologies that have failed our healthcare system.
Duplicate records harm your patients’ experiences
Problems with patient matching underlie many of the more visible portability issues a patient may see from their physician such as receiving incomplete medical records. Luckily, Referential Matching technology is a powerful solution.
Salmon, coral, or pink?
How a lunchtime dispute about shades of pink became a parable for patient matching.
Where’s my bundled discount? What your MDM is missing.
They are clear benefits to using bundled discounts for both the customer and seller, but applying the discount appropriately is more difficult than you would think due to shortcomings in your MDM.
The April Birthday Paradox
An unexpected twist on the classic statistical problem “The Birthday Paradox” using interesting insights from our reference database.
Verato Announces Blockchain Laboratory
Announcing the first ever tech lab dedicated to improving patient matching using blockchain, the technology that’s revolutionizing healthcare.
HIMSS18 Recap
It’s taken a couple weeks for things to settle post-HIMSS and we are still invigorated from all of the energy, activity, and innovation we witnessed. Most important to note, from our perspective, was the focus on interoperability as a national priority.
Verato submits public comments on TEFCA framework
Verato submitted public comment to the ONC regarding the 21st Century Cures Act Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). Verato recommends that TEFCA should specify an identity matching resource based on the next-generation of patient matching – Referential Matching.
Achieving the ONC’s mandated 0.5% duplicate rate with Referential Matching
By using Verato Auto-Steward and its Referential Matching approach, organizations can ensure that they achieve the original business case established for the use of their EHR or EMPI, and that they can meet the ONC mandate of a having a 0.5% duplicate rate by 2020.
The “i” in Verato
Yes, there is an “i” in Verato. Don’t be fooled by the spelling – the “i” might not be visible, but it represents identity, innovation, improvement, and integrity, each of which is a key tenet of our philosophy and technology.
Matchmaker matchmaker make me a match
Does your EHR, MPI, or MDM have a large queue of patient identities (or Queue-PID, pronounced “cupid”) awaiting manual review by your HIM team to determine if those identities are duplicates? Fall in love with Verato Auto-Steward™ this Valentine’s day and dramatically improve your patient matching.
Reduce uncertainty in your data stewardship program
Verato Auto-Steward can not only automate the resolution of “potential duplicate record” tasks – it can also reduce the uncertainty associated with your data stewardship program.
The story of my Roomba®
What does a Roomba have to do with patient matching? Read this blog to find out.
An epic blog post: How to improve patient matching in Epic® Identity™
Learn how a simple plug-in can seamlessly connect with Epic to automatically find and resolve its missed matches and duplicate records, including the “potential duplicate records” it has flagged for manual resolution.
Verato pens letter to U.S. Senate and House recommending Referential Matching as nationwide strategy
Verato wrote a letter to Senate and House committees urging them to consider a fundamentally different approach to patient matching – called Referential Matching – that will finally enable an accurate, secure, and scalable nationwide patient matching strategy. Read the full contents of the letter here.
We’ve “wrapped up” our year to “present” to you
Well it’s that time of year. The holidays are here, and we’ve been trying to think of clever holiday puns to catch your attention. The best we could come up with was writing a year-end “wrap up,” which you can correctly assume is a reference to wrapping presents. I know, it’s hilarious.
A conventional MPI: The gift that keeps on giving
On the first day of Christmas my MPI gave me: a patient record that was incomplete.
Thanksgiving puns are the worst
Is your EMR or master patient index STUFFED with duplicates? Is your master patient index GOBBLING up your budget? Tighten your budgetary belt with the Verato Universal MPI.
Clouded definitions: The very real difference between hosted and SaaS software solutions
There are two very different categories of cloud-based technologies, and picking the right one can save your organization significant money, time, and effort. It can also give your organization access to revolutionary software features. Learn more about the difference between “hosted” and “SaaS” solutions.
Crawl, walk, run: Three easy ways to solve patient matching at your organization
Read about three steps that health systems, payers, and health information exchanges (HIEs) like yours can take to crawl, then walk, then run to lower duplicate rates and improved patient matching.
P&C insurance companies: Get the most out of your MDM investments
MDM solutions cost a lot of money and take a lot of effort to implement, but they are worth it to gain the elusive “single view of the customer.” However, every MDM solution on the market forces companies to choose between creating a data stewardship program or only achieving a single view of 80% of their customers.
How did patient matching become a national imperative?
A few years ago, patient matching was a challenge addressed by health information management professionals within the four walls of their hospitals and health systems. Today, accurate patient matching has become a national imperative—in early October, five US senators wrote a letter to the GAO urging it to consider the effects of a national patient matching strategy.
What happened?
AHIMA Convention 2017 recap: patient matching remains a hot topic
The 2017 AHIMA Convention & Exhibit was as timely as ever – and not just because the California sun was a welcome relief from rainy DC. The industry-wide problem of patient matching has been getting more and more attention in the press recently and was top-of-mind for many in LA. Three days before the convention,… Read more »
BCBS IM Symposium wrap-up: Not just for cowboys
We saw a lot of similarities between this unruly cow and the unruliness of master data management. Luckily, our sales manager Rachel was able to wrangle the cow, just like our Referential Matching technology can wrangle and match patient and member data.
Health Insurance Companies are Facing a Reckoning on Patient Matching
Payers are grappling an increasingly prevalent problem: how to match disparate data to the right person. Referential Matching technology is well-suited to help.
Raising the Bar on Privacy and Security
Verato’s Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) is honored to oversee a rigorous information security and privacy program that raises the expectations for workforce, leadership, contractors, third-parties, vendors and customers with baseline standards and requirements that protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and systems. We are proud of our commitment to a… Read more »
Recapping the SHIEC 2017 Conference
I was asked to represent Verato during the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) conference held in Indianapolis. The conference was thriving with ideas to improve patient care, patient experience, and overall outcomes. Topics on Patient Centered Data Home (PCDH), Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), Interoperability, and Behavioral Health were some of my favorites, perhaps because their use cases depend tremendously on accurate identity resolution.
Referential Matching: The Silver Bullet for Patient Identity and Patient Matching
One of the biggest challenges in patient identification is the ability to tie together all of a patient’s information and accurately associate it with that patient. This is where Verato comes in. Our approach is called “referential matching” and the Verato Universal MPI is the only master patient index to use it
Obituary Notice: Conventional MPIs are Dead
Today, we mourn the timely passing of a dear but increasingly obsolete—and obstinate—friend, Master Patient Index.
7 Reasons Why Patient Matching Failures are Dangerous
As the healthcare industry continues to push toward interoperability, one key component is still lagging, causing cracks in the foundation of any successful data framework: Patient matching.
If You Use IBM Initiate, You Need to Read This
IBM Initiate is a state-of-the-art master patient index (MPI) solution with best-of-breed patient matching capabilities. But it requires thousands or millions of potential matches to be manually reviewed. Learn how you can automatically match those potential matches, saving the time and effort of manual review.
MPI Cleanups Are a Thing of the Past
It’s time for organizations to stop performing MPI cleanups. Verato offers a Referential Matching plug-in that works continuously to find and remediate duplicates an EHR or EMPI has missed, and that prevent duplicates from being created in the first place.
AHIMA16 – Stop Cleaning Your Identity Data! Achieve Interoperability of Patient Information Despite Dirty and Out-of-Date Data
Healthcare organizations perform large data quality exercises and enforce strict data governance standards in order to better match patient identities and improve interoperability. But there is a new way to match patient identities despite low quality data.
AHIMA16 – How to Unlock Big Data to Analyze Populations
Population health and analytics are at the forefront of almost every discussion about the future of healthcare. But the ability to analyze the health of a population is dependent on the accuracy with which claims, clinical, biographical, and other data can be aggregated and assembled into complete views of each patient.
Traditional Patient Matching is History: How to Link Records Despite Out-of-Date Data
Traditional patient matching engines use patients’ names, addresses, and other identity data to link patient records together. But this data is constantly changing, making matching a challenge. This blog examines how you can accurately match patient records even if they contain out-of-date data.
The Age of Data Governance for Patient Matching is Over
A recent study published in the AHIMA journal “Perspectives in Health Information Management” analyzed what data errors cause duplicate patient records. But duplicates can be found and prevented without the need for data governance.
CHIME National Patient ID Challenge – Blitz Round
We are excited to have entered the CHIME National Patient ID Challenge Blitz Round! We think that the Challenge will spur innovative solutions for patient identification—therefore, what is most important is the interoperability of those solutions.
Seeing the Signal through the Noise in Health Data Analytics
As we venture into in Precision Medicine, Accountable Care, Pop Health, and Outcome-Based Medicine, we must find the signal through the noise in our analysis of patient data.
A Recap of Our Week at HIMSS16
Verato had a great week at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas. Many members of our marketing, sales, and executive leadership teams made it out at one point or another to learn more about HIT, to network with other HIT professionals, and to spread the word about our unique patient matching solution that drives interoperability.
How to Achieve Accurate Identity Matching without the Sweat Equity
If you’ve ever renovated a house or bought a “fixer-upper,” you know all about sweat equity—it’s the painstaking investment of time and labor that goes into the project. What you might not know is when you buy a modern identity matching solution—whether a Master Data Management (MDM) or Master Patient Index (MPI) tool—you are signing up for more sweat equity than you realize.