We often get the question from a prospect: How does Verato match minors? The short answer is: just like every other EMPI on the market, and often even better.
Why do we get asked this question?
Our prospects ask us this question because they know that a core advantage of our matching process is our reference data. We manage a proprietary, highly-curated reference database of identities spanning the entire US. Each identity contains a complete profile of demographic data with up to a 30-year data history — data like names, addresses, phone numbers, and birthdate.
We use this reference database during the matching process to help match records, including those with out-of-date and incomplete demographic data that a traditional MPI could not match. See diagram below (which of course contains fictitious data).
So why the question about minors?
Because our reference database does not contain data about minors and some people assume that our matching technology is entirely dependent on our reference data. But this assumption is incorrect — we can make matches even in the absence of reference data, and we do it essentially the same way other EMPIs do (and often do it even better).
So how does our matching technology work?
The short answer is that even in the absence of reference data, we still make matches using our sophisticated probabilistic algorithms, as well as with our deterministic rules that look for things like twins or father/son Sr./Jr. similarities.
Here’s a little more information about Verato Referential Matching, why it can handle minors, and why it is a quantum leap better than other EMPI technologies at matching.
For 5 years now, Verato has pioneered a new matching technology called Verato Referential Matching, and Verato is currently the only EMPI vendor on the market to offer native referential matching capabilities.
Verato’s matching technology uses a combination of:
- Sophisticated probabilistic algorithms to help with things like nicknames, typos, phonetic matching, and character transpositions
- Rules-based matching to help uncover things like twins or familial similarities (e.g. father/son Jr./Sr. similarities)
- Native reference data that helps overcome out-of-date and incomplete data. (It is important that the reference data is native to the solution, and that the algorithms have been tuned to it… otherwise you are effectively just throwing data at the problem and hoping that it helps and doesn’t hurt.)
This combination means that even in cases that there is no available reference data to help, like with minors, Verato can still make matches using our advanced probabilistic and rules-based algorithms. Essentially, this means we can match minor identities just as well as other EMPIs — and often better than other EMPIs because our probabilistic algorithms are so sophisticated. See diagram below (which, again, contains fictitious data).
The proof is in the pudding
Importantly, Verato Referential Matching is a technology that is widely proven in the healthcare industry. Verato has over 50 customers leveraging Verato Referential Matching technology to help meet their business needs, including some of the largest and most innovative providers, payers, and health information exchanges in the country. All of these customers care about matching minors as well as adults.
If that’s not enough proof, consider this: Verato has frequently gone out and improved the matching of other EMPI and EHR solutions like NextGate, IBM Initiate, Mirth, Epic, Cerner, and others with our Referential Matching technology. Essentially, Verato is brought in to automatically make matches that these other technologies cannot make. We sit alongside these technologies and resolve thousands or millions of records that they cannot match —records that they have flagged as potential matches and set aside for humans to review and resolve. Of course, all of these clients had minors which needed to be resolved as well as adults.
Learn more
Learn more about our technology by scheduling a demo. You can learn more about our matching, learn why having native reference data is so important, and see our technology at work.