Premier Advocates for National Patient Identifier Standard
Published 4/24/24
Premier joined more than 150 organizations in urging House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders to exclude language prohibiting HHS from allocating funds to promulgate or adopt a national unique patient health identifier standard.
The creation of a national strategy to improve patient identification became even more critical during the pandemic. Lack of effective patient matching undermines care coordination and safety and costs the average hospital $2.5 million and the U.S. healthcare system more than $6.7 billion annually. The letter underscores the importance of removing the outdated ban so that HHS can work with the private sector to explore potential challenges and identify a complete national strategy around patient identification and matching that protects patient privacy and is cost-effective, scalable, and secure.
