The College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME), the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based advocacy group, is putting up $1 million to challenge innovators to create a solution that accurately matches patients with their healthcare information.
CHIME plans to launch its National Patient ID Challenge by the summer. It is currently raising the money and has put a task force of healthcare IT leaders in place who will form challenge guidelines and winning criteria.
"There is a growing consensus among payers and providers that a unique patient ID would radically reduce medical errors and save lives," CHIME CEO and President Russell P. Branzell, said in a statement."Incomplete or duplicate health records present significant issues in terms of patient safety, and there is a pressing need for preventing, detecting and removing inaccurate records so hospitals can positively match the right data with the right patient in order to provide the best possible care."
For the National Patient ID Challenge, CHIME is working with HeroX, a nonprofit offshoot of XPRIZE, an organization based in Culver City, Calif. HeroX is a platform that hosts innovation challenges.
CHIME said there is a huge need for a unique patient identifier. In the release, the organization cited data collected by the Harris County Hospital District in Houston where there are 2,488 actual patients named Maria Garcia, 231 of which share the same birth date.
