News & Related Links

The topic of a national patient identifier has been part of the healthcare transformation discussion for many years. A number of publications provide background and insights to the challenges and opportunities in this area.

Press Releases

• May 20, 2011: VUHID Moving into Production Mode
• May 5, 2009: Global Patient Identifiers, Inc. and MEDNETWorld.com Announce Partnership to Deploy Universal Healthcare Identifier System

Newsletters

• February, 2010
• April, 2009
• January, 2009

Research and Publications

• RAND Corporation
  Identity Crisis: An Examination of the Costs and Benefits of a Unique Patient Identifier for the U.S. Health Care System, Richard Hillestad et al, October 2008
• ACS EDI Gateway, Inc.
  ANSI ASC X12N 270/271 (Version 4010A) Benefit Eligibility Inquiry/Response Transactions: Washington State Medical Assistance Administration Companion Guide, Tallahassee, Fla., October 13, 2005.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), 2004.
• National Alliance for Health Information Technology
  The National Alliance for Health Information Technology Calls for Creation of Voluntary Unique Patient Identifiers for Exchanging Electronic Health Records (members-only), December 13, 2007. As of January 10, 2008
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  ACLU Tells CDC New Guidelines for HIV Tracking Violate Privacy, Ignore Public Health Research, press release, New York, January 12, 1999.
• American Health Information Community (AHIC)
  American Health Information Community: Breakthroughs, 2006 Breakthrough Focus Areas, 2006.
• American Hospital Association (AHA)
  Protecting and Improving Care for Patients and Communities: Health Information Technology, 2006 Advocacy Position Paper, Washington, D.C. 2006.
• American Psychoanalytic Association
  Position Statement—Confidentiality, last revised September 7, 1999.
• ASTM
  Standard Guide for Properties of a Universal Healthcare Identifier (UHID), West Conshohocken, Pa.: E1714-07, 2007, http://astm.org .
• ASTM
  Standard Guide for Implementation of a Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identification system, West Conshohocken, Pa.: E2553-07, 2007, http://astm.org/ .
• Appavu, S. I.
  Analysis of Unique Patient Identifier Options: Final Report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November 24, 1997.
• Booz Allen Hamilton
  Medical Identity Theft Environmental Scan, Oct. 15, 2008.
• Booz Allen Hamilton
  Medical Identity Theft Final Report, January 15, 2009.
• Bovbjerg, Barbara
  Federal and State Laws Restrict Use of SSNs, Yet Gaps Remain, Government Accountability Office (GAO) Testimony Before the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection and Committee on Governmental Operations, New York Assembly, Washington, D.C.: GAO, GAO-05-1016T, September 15, 2006.
• Bower, Anthony
  The Diffusion and Value of Healthcare Information Technology, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, MG-272-1-HLTH, 2005.
• Cain, Mary M., Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, and Jennifer C. Wayne
  Health e-People: The Online Consumer Experience, Menlo Park, Calif.: California HealthCare Foundation, August 2000.
• California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF)
  Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange, Menlo Park, Calif., April 2007.
• Classen, D. C., M. Kanbouwa, D. Will, J. Casper, J. Lewin, and J. Walker
  The Patient Safety Institute Demonstration Project: A Model for Implementing a Local Health Information Infrastructure, Journal of Healthcare Information Management, Vol. 19, No. 4, 2005, pp. 75—86.
• Coalition for Patient Privacy
  April 5, 2006 Letter to Congress.
• Connecting for Health
  Record Locator Service: Technical Background from the Massachusetts Prototype Community, New York: Markle Foundation, 2005.
• E-Health Initiative
  Blueprint: Building Consensus for Common Action, Phase I, Managing Privacy, Security and Confidentiality, Washington, D.C., October 10, 2007, pp. 75—82.
• General Accounting Office (GAO)
  Information Security: Advances and Remaining Challenges to Adoption of Public Key Infrastructure, GAO-01-277, 2001.
• Girosi, Federico, Robin Meili, and Richard Scoville
  Extrapolating Evidence of Health Information Technology Savings and Costs, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, MG-410-HLTH, 2005.
• Government Accountability Office (GAO)
  Health Information Technology: Early Efforts Initiated But Comprehensive Privacy Approach Needed for National Strategy, Washington, D.C., GAO-07-400T, February 1, 2007.
• Grannis, Shaun J., J. Marc Overhage, and Clement McDonald
  Real World Performance of Approximate String Comparators for Use in Patient Matching, MEDINFO 2004, Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2004, pp. 43—47.
• Greenberg, Michael D., and Susan Ridgely
  Patient Identifiers and the National Health Information Network: Debunking a False Front in the Privacy Wars, Journal of Health and Biomedical Law, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2008, pp. 31—68.
• Halamka, J., M. Atranow, C. Ascenzo, D. Bates, G. Debor, J. Glaser, A. Goroll, J. Stowe, M. Tripath, and G. Vineyard
  Health Care IT Collaboration in Massachusetts: The Experience of Creating Regional Connectivity, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Vol. 12, No. 6, 2005, pp. 596—601.
• How the Public Views Privacy and Health Research, survey for the Institute of Medicine, 2007; revised and expanded March 2008.
• Health Information and Management System Society
  Voluntary Patient Identifier Resolution Position Statement, December, 2003.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Public Law 104-191, U.S. Statutes at Large 110, 1996, §1936.
• Health Level Seven website, Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW)
  Goals and Standards, July 2006.
• Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP)
  Manage Sharing of Documents Transaction Package, Version 2, Table 3.1-1, List of Standards, LIS09A, 2001, as well as Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)'s IT Infrastructure Technical Framework, Volumes 1 and 2, August 22, 2007.
• Hieb, B
  The Case for a Voluntary National Healthcare Identifier, Journal of ASTM International, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006.
• Hieb, B
  Designing a Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identification System, Gartner research paper G00155382, 24 March 2008.
• Hieb, B
  Q&A for Obstacles to Creation of a National Patient Identification Capability, Gartner research paper G00155261, 24 March 2008.
• Hillestad, Richard, James Bigelow, Anthony Bower, Federico Girosi, Robin Meili, Richard Scoville, and Roger Taylor
  Can Electronic Medical Record Systems Transform Health Care? Potential Health Benefits, Savings, and Costs, Health Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 5, September/October 2005, pp.1103—1117.
• Initiate Systems
  Integrating Patient Medical Records in Pursuit of the EMR, WPEMR-1207, 2008.
• Institute of Medicine (IOM)
  Committee on Data Standards for Patient Safety, Patient Safety: Achieving a New Standard of Care, P. Aspden, et al., eds., Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2003.
• Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), IT Infrastructure Technical Framework, Volume 1, Integration Profiles, August 22, 2007.
• Kaushal, R., D. Blumenthal, E. G. Poon, A. K. Jha, C. Franz, B. Middleton, J. Glaser, G. J. Kuperman, M. Christino, R. Fernandopulle, J. P. Newhouse, and D. W. Bates
  The Costs of a National Health Information Network, Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 143, No. 3, 2005, pp. 165—173.
• Lake Research Partners (LRP) and American Viewpoint
  National Survey on Electronic Personal Health Records, November 2006. NOTE: This survey was done in preparation for the Markle Foundation's conference, Connecting Americans to Their Health Care: Empowered Consumers, Personal Health Records and Emerging Technologies, December 7—8, 2006, Washington, D.C.
• Lau, P. Behrendt, M. Bruun-Rasmussen, and K. Bernstein
  Study on Patient Identity in eHealth, Final Report, Brussels, Belgium: European Commission—DG Information Society & Media, December 21, 2006.
• Markle Foundation
  National Survey on Electronic Personal Health Records, Washington, D.C., December 2006.
• McDonald, C. J., J. M. Overhage, M. Barnes, G. Schadow, L. Blevins, P. R. Dexter, and B. Mamlin
  The Indiana Network for Patient Care: A Working Local Health Information Infrastructure, Health Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2005, pp. 1214—1220.
• Menn, J.
  ID Theft Impacts Medical Records; Victims Face Bogus Bills and Risk Injury or Death. Privacy Laws Make Such Fraud Hard to Pursue, Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2006.
• National Alliance for Health Information Technology
  Thought Leadership Series Point of View Paper #1, Safety in Numbers: Resolving Shortcoming in Matching Patients with their Electronic Records, December 2007
• National Governors Association
  The Real ID Act: National Impact Analysis, September 2006.
• Patient Privacy Rights website
  47 State & National Organizations, Health IT Companies Join Forces to Demand Consumers Regain Control of Their Personal Health Records, October 18, 2007.
• Piechowski, Rod
  IT from Coast to Coast, Hospitals and Health Networks, Jan. 13, 2009.
• Row, G. Leg, and J. Metzger
  E-Disease Management, Falls Church, Va.: First Consulting Group, November 2001.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
  Unique Health Identifier for Individuals: A White Paper, Washington, D.C., 1998.

Global Patient Identifiers, Inc. Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identifier Standards by ASTM International