Is there a movement afoot to give everyone in America their own medical Identification Number? And if there was such a number under which all of a person’s medical records could be assembled, would it cut down on the astronomical number of errors that occur each year in the medical profession? Finally, would it be worth the huge cost to assemble and manage such a system?

According to a new study by the RAND Corporation, creating a unique patient ID number for everyone in the United States would facilitate a reduction in medical errors. The study advances that this would simplify the use of electronic medical records, increase overall efficiency and help protect patient privacy. According to known statistics, anywhere between 80,000 and 100,000 persons are harmed or killed each year by hospital, medical or pharmaceutical drug errors.

“Establishing a system of unique patient identification numbers would help the nation to enjoy the full benefits of electronic medical records and improve the quality of medical care,” said Richard Hillestad, the study’s lead author. “The alternative is to rely on a system that produces too many errors and puts patients’ privacy at risk.”

Without this type of system in place, patient records can be collected by a technique known as “statistical matching” that retrieves a patient’s medical records by doing a search of name, birth date, address, gender, previous medical record numbers and part or all of a person’s Social Security Number. According to the RAND study, statistical matching returns incomplete records at least 8 percent of the time. Also, it exposes privacy records as a large amount of private information is exposed to computer systems during such a search.

One of the ways procedural errors could be reduced includes speculation that such a patient identifier would eliminate recordkeeping errors. It would also help to eliminate unneeded or repetitive care a person might be slated to receive. Allergies would most likely be noted and adverse drug reactions of the past also documented so as not to be duplicated in the future.

The question, is would such a system be worth the $11 billion estimated price tag the study suggests it would cost to implement? Or would it be just another way for a “big brother” mentality in government to further keep tract of every resident of the United States? Or would it be another means for insurance companies to establish insurability of a person with all prior existing conditions noted? Likely, such a number would be different than a person’s Social Security Number. Also, the study does mention that entry into the system could remain voluntary.

If such a system could make it easier for a hospital employee or a doctor to deal with a patient’s history and get it right, there is a possibility that the human error that enters into a large number of medical error situations could be reduced. If that is the case, it could be worth the money and the time to collect and manage all of the data. Source: The RAND Corporation. “Creating Unique Health ID Numbers Would Facilitate Improved Health Care Quality and Efficiency.” October 2008.  http://www.rand.org/news/press/2008/10/20/