Health information (HI) leaders report daily that patient records that are mismatched or duplicated, leading to patient misidentification and patient safety and privacy issues. In addition, medications are prescribed for patients who lack a complete medical history in their record and diagnoses are delayed or lost.
AHIMA and other HI leaders are working to address the problem of patient misidentification in healthcare. In recognition of Patient ID Week from May 11-15, the Journal of AHIMA spoke with Kate McFadyen, AHIMA Senior Director, Government Affairs, about these efforts to improve patient matching.
Q: What are the main causes of patient misidentification?
A: When we talk about patient misidentification, we see this happen in two different ways. One is overlaid records where two or more patients’ information is combined into one record because of similar demographic information. This causes patient safety issues because it could result in a patient being treated for another patient's condition. Physicians may be working from incomplete information. It’s also a patient privacy issue. You don't want one patient getting access to another patient's information. The other way it happens is duplicate records where one patient may visit several different health care settings and have a separate record at each of those that are not combined into one record.
Q: What is the cost of this problem for the healthcare system?
A: The expense to healthcare facilities of repeated medical care due to patient misidentification costs an average of $1,950 per inpatient stay and over $1,700 per emergency department visit. About 35 percent of all denied claims result from inaccurate patient identification, costing the US healthcare system over $6.7 billion annually. Right now, we don't really have a good way to measure how many mismatched records there are in the US.
Q: Can you tell us about the Patient ID Now Coalition and how it is addressing this issue?
A: The coalition consists of more than 50 healthcare organizations representing patients, providers, health IT, and public health leaders who are dedicated to addressing the issue of patient misidentification and advocating for a national strategy around patient identification and matching. The coalition was founded by AHIMA and other organizations in 2020 and leads Patient ID Week. The coalition does a number of things, including working on the advocacy around the MATCH IT Act as well as advocating for the repeal of Section 510 of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Act, which is the ban on a unique patient identifier.
Q: What’s the latest on the MATCH IT Act?
A: The MATCH IT Act was first introduced in the 118th Congress in 2024 and then was reintroduced into the 119th Congress in 2025. AHIMA and the coalition worked with our champions on Capitol Hill, Representatives Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Bill Foster (D-IL), to put together this legislation to improve patient matching. Right now, the bill is in the US House of Representatives, and it has 12 co-sponsors. The more co-sponsors that we can get, the better chance this has of moving forward and passing.
Q: How does Patient ID Week fit into these efforts to improve patient matching?
A: Patient ID Week is a week where we really try and educate people about the issue of patient misidentification and highlight the issues that come with that. During that week, we really drive engagement with our campaigns around the MATCH IT Act and within the AHIMA Action Center. It's a time for HI professionals to share why this is such an important issue, why it impacts their jobs, why it impacts patients, and make sure that decision-makers and policymakers understand the impact of patient misidentification and what can be done to solve it.
Q: How can HI professionals and others participate in the week’s activities and beyond to help make a difference?
A: You can write your members of Congress through campaigns that we have in the Action Center to highlight the importance of this issue and ask them to co-sponsor the MATCH IT Act, which is the bill on Capitol Hill that would improve patient matching. Another way to get involved is to share your story within the Action Center. AHIMA collects patient and HI professional stories of patient misidentification that we can share with policymakers to illustrate the impact this has on the healthcare system. Other ways that you can get involved is posting on social media and tagging your member of Congress to say this is an important issue and please take a look at it. And you can discuss the issue at your workplace to see if they would be willing to endorse the MATCH IT Act or talk about the different ways that AHIMA is involved.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add to encourage HI professionals to get involved in this issue?
A: Our AHIMA members are in the best position to talk about this issue because they deal with it every day at work. They’re the voice of what’s happening on the ground, telling others what’s going on and using their expertise to push for change. AHIMA has also recently published the 2026 Patient Naming Framework - Essential Demographic Data Elements for Electronic Health Information that can help organizations take the necessary steps to improve care. Those interested can watch the webinar or access the guide.