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Need Your Support for the Patient ID

HIMSS is initiating a campaign to support the removal of Section 510 from Labor-HHS appropriations bill. We need your help in contacting Congress and encourage them to remove the ban.

Why is this important?

For nearly two decades, innovation and industry progress around patient identification and matching has been stifled due to broad interpretation of Section 510 of the Labor-HHS bill. Without the ability of clinicians to correctly connect a patient with their medical record, lives have been lost and medical errors have needlessly occurred.

Now, more than ever, the current COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination efforts highlight the urgent need to lift this outdated ban. Accurate identification of patients is one of the most difficult operational issues during a public health emergency, including the collection of patient demographic information and the implementation of a method to ensure that the information remains attached to the patient. Field hospitals and temporary testing and vaccination sites in parks, convention centers, and parking lots exacerbate these challenges.

The fact that most COVID-19 vaccines are currently administered in two doses increases the difficulties of patient identification. Ensuring the correct patient medical history is accurately matched to the patient is critical for future patient care, claims billing, patients’ long-term access to their complete health record, and for tracking the long-term effects of COVID-19.

What you can do?

Contact your Members of Congress to encourage them to remove this archaic ban from the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill via https://himss.quorum.us/campaign/PatientIDNow/