SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Creating an exclusive health identification number for every American would reduce medical errors, speed the use of electronic medical records, increase overall efficiency and help protect patient privacy, according to a new RAND Corp. study.
The study, released Oct. 20, says setting up such a system carries an $11 billion price tag but would result in savings up to $77 billion, reaped by easing health care processes and reducing repetitive and unneeded care.
"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 and senior principal researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "The alternative is to rely on a system that produces too many errors and puts patients' privacy at risk."
The study was backed by powerhouse health IT companies including Intel, IBM, Microsoft, MYSYS, Oracle and Siemens.
Most health systems currently use statistical matching to things like a patient's Social Security number, name, birth date, address, gender or a medical record number created by the provider. But the researchers found statistical matching returns incomplete medical records about 8 percent of the time and risks patient privacy because a large amount of personal information is exposed to computer systems during the search.
More than 10 years ago, HIPAA called for HHS to develop a health ID system, but efforts have been stalled by privacy and security concerns, and Congress has yet to provide funding. The same fears have slowed the government's efforts to move to a nationwide system of electronic health records—which President Bush has called for by 2014—that would be shared by all providers.
To overcome these concerns, the RAND study calls for creation of laws "that severely punish those who misuse information retrieved with a health ID number," and also suggests the ID system could start as a voluntary program.
In the meantime, Microsoft announced last week it is teaming with Aetna to provide the insurer's members with portable personal health records (PHRs). Aetna members will soon be able to transfer the information in their records directly to Microsoft's HealthVault, a security-enhanced, Web-based consumer health platform that can be accessed even if they change jobs or health plans.
Read the entire RAND study (PDF).