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.
Identity
Our core business is identity matching. Simply put, we help organizations match and link all of their patient or consumer identities across their many IT systems so they can gain single, complete views of each patient or consumer.
Innovation
We have developed the next-generation approach to identity matching called Referential Matching, which is a totally new, innovative technology that is much more accurate than any other matching technology.
Improvement
Because our solutions are cloud-based, any organization can rapidly gain the power of Referential Matching technology to greatly improve its patient or customer matching. Verato Auto-Steward™ is a simple plug-in for EHR, EMPI, and MDM technologies that automatically finds and resolves their missed matches and duplicate records using Referential Matching technology—without disrupting any existing processes or IT systems. And the Verato Universal™ MPI is a HITRUST-certified SaaS EMPI solution that uses Referential Matching technology to achieve the highest matching accuracy rates in the industry. Simply put, it is the most accurate, easiest to implement, most secure, and most cost-effective EMPI solution on the market.
Integrity
We wrap our technology with significant configuration of security and privacy standards, notably aligning with the principal of Integrity. Data integrity is core in privacy management frameworks across sector and technology. The Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) designate Data Quality and Integrity as one of the core tenants of the seminal privacy framework in the United States, which serves as the basis for nearly every other privacy framework throughout the world. The FIPPs Data Quality and Integrity focuses on ensuring that personally identifiable information (PII) is accurate, timely, relevant, and complete.
Similarly, the common information security model – the “CIA” triad – establishes Integrity as a critical tenet. This triad of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability provides the cornerstones for how organizations prepare and protect the systems and networks that collect and process personal information. Integrity, within the context of security, refers to the maintenance of the consistency, accuracy, and trustworthiness of data within those systems.
Organizations have traditionally relied on identity management systems that utilize outdated and flawed identity information to match patient or consumer records. But identity is not static throughout life and cannot be managed as such. This is particularly relevant in the healthcare industry as patients move, change their names, use various nicknames, or register with typos or other errors. The Verato difference is the utilization of our innovative Referential Matching approach that can make matches despite outdated and flawed identity information.
The focus on dynamic qualities of identity increases the likelihood of satisfying the Data Quality and Integrity principles of privacy management. Confidence in particular elements of PII that contribute to a perspective of someone’s identity increases upon accounting of temporal and contextual factors. There is less confidence in identity attributes if they have not matured based on temporal or contextual events. Integrity in privacy management is a factor of the evolution of data that merges into the representation of identity.
Patient matching is a specialized capability within the context of identity management in which Verato excels, and to which Verato’s silent “i” is particularly relevant. Successful patient matching revolves around resolving the integrity of patient identities throughout providers, payers and systems the patient has encountered over the course of her life. Patient matching refers to the methods used to match and link one patient’s data within and across healthcare organizations. Verato’s Referential Matching approach resolves and matches identities despite “dynamic” identity attributes. This improved integrity of patient identity supports the greater interoperability issues that are at the forefront of key strategic initiatives by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
ONC leaned into the importance of privacy and security in patient identity with the recent appointment of a new Chief Privacy Officer, Kathryn Marchesini, JD. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted in 2009, requires ONC to appoint a Chief Privacy Officer “to advise the National Coordinator on privacy, security, and data stewardship of electronic health information and to coordinate with other federal agencies.” ONC faced a challenge many organizations encounter these days in light of budget restrictions and conflicting organizational priorities. Verato applauds ONC’s National Coordinator, Donald Rucker, for recognizing and emphasizing the value of privacy and security of patient information by moving forward with this appointment.
Verato additionally participated in the recent HIMSS Patient Identity Integrity Workgroup, tasked with considering how to improve the accuracy and completeness of a patient’s data including the accurate identification of the patient and the linking of all related information to that individual within and across systems. Further, Verato is proud to currently be participating in the HIMSS Interoperability & Health Information Exchange committee investigating Healthcare organizations that are implementing and measuring the value of interoperability.
In conclusion
Our focus on identity, innovation, improvement, and integrity is key to our mission, critical to our success, and absolutely essential to our adherence to the highest standards of privacy and security.