In fact, a group of 25 healthcare organizations — representing providers, payers and health IT companies — recently wrote members of Congress to remove the nearly twenty-year-old ban.1
So, what exactly does that mean? And what implications could it have for healthcare organizations?
For starters, it’s a continual challenge for providers to be able to match patient identity across the care continuum. It’s not only something that can cause internal headaches, but it also is a major hurdle standing in the way of achieving interoperability.
As more and more providers begin sharing patient information across systems, the risk of data falling into the wrong hands increases. While this can be a scary thought, there are steps you can take to secure patient information to help avoid this. And if all providers are able to put in place a system that lets them confidently identify patients regardless of location or vendor, then true interoperability can flourish.