The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is launching a $1 million challenge this summer in an effort to solve the problem of accurately matching patients with their healthcare information, the organization announced this week. "There is a growing consensus among payers and providers that a unique patient ID would radically reduce medical errors and save lives," CHIME CEO and President Russell Branzell said. Inaccurate records, he added, can occur from manual data entry errors or simply because two or more patients share a name, leading to inadequate care or unintended injury.
"As those charged with leading health information technology, we have a responsibility to ensuring the technology we're implementing leads to better, safer, more efficient patient care," said CHIME Board Chair Charles Christian, vice president and CIO of St. Francis Hospital in Georgia. Statement