Bipartisan Representatives Reintroduce MATCH IT Act of 2025

/EIN News/ -- Chicago, March 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Patient ID Now, a coalition of leading healthcare organizations, applauds the reintroduction of H.R.2002, the Patient Matching and Transparency in Certified Health IT (MATCH IT) Act of 2025 by Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Representative Bill Foster (D-IL), cosponsored by Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA), in the US House of Representatives.

The MATCH IT Act would address the problem of patient misidentification within the healthcare ecosystem while improving patient safety and privacy. The bill would create an industry standard definition for the term “patient match rate” — to allow measurement of patient match rates across the healthcare system — and would improve standardization of patients’ demographic elements entered into certified health IT products to ensure patients are accurately matched with the correct medical record.

Patient misidentification within the US healthcare system has long threatened patient safety and privacy and results in unnecessary additional costs to patients and providers. According to Black Book Research, thirty-five percent of all denied claims result from inaccurate patient identification, costing the average hospital $2.5 million and the US healthcare system more than $6.7 billion annually.

The inability of clinicians to ensure patients are accurately matched with their health records has caused medical errors and, in some instances, even death. To prevent these medical errors, duplicative testing is often used to ensure prior results are correct. The expense of repeated medical care due to duplicate records costs an average of $1,950 per patient inpatient stay and more than $1,700 per emergency department visit.

This bipartisan legislation has been endorsed by the Patient ID Now coalition, American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Inc. (HIMSS), Intermountain Health, Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, American Medical Informatics Association, Baptist Health, Becton Dickinson (BD), Civitas Networks for Health, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), DirectTrust, e4health, Harris Data Integrity Solutions, Imprivata, Medical Group Management Association, MyLigo, Inc, Nemours Children's Health, OrthoVirginia, Parkview Health, Robert Wood Johnson Barnabus Health, and Verato.

“The American Health Information Management Association^® (AHIMA^®) commends Representatives Mike Kelly and Bill Foster for once again leading the charge to protect patient safety and improve patient matching,” said AHIMA President and Board Chair, Maria Caban Alizondo, PhD, RHIT, FAHIMA. “The MATCH IT Act would decrease rates of patient misidentification, improve patient privacy and care, and bring down costs within the healthcare ecosystem associated with mismatched patient records. AHIMA looks forward to the passage of this critical legislation.”

Here is what leaders of other coalition member organizations said about the recent legislation:

• CHIME applauds the reintroduction of the MATCH IT Act, a critical step toward establishing patient matching standards that enhance patient safety, privacy, and healthcare efficiency. As the industry embraces innovative technologies, ensuring accurate patient identification has never been more urgent. The MATCH IT Act will provide a much-needed framework to improve interoperability, reduce errors, and uphold the integrity of the American healthcare system. We stand in strong support of this bipartisan effort to drive meaningful progress in patient care and health IT. - Russ Branzell, President and Chief Executive Officer, College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME)
  
  
• Intermountain Health is proud to support the MATCH IT Act and applauds Representatives Kelly and Foster for their leadership. Ensuring that patients are accurately and consistently connected to their electronic health data is foundational to patient safety and privacy. While Congress has rightly prioritized interoperability and digital health data exchange, progress toward these national priorities is inhibited by patient matching and identification issues. In addition, movement toward a value-based payment system in which care is coordinated across disparate providers of care is impeded because of difficulties in accurately identifying patients at the point of care and linking their prior care Intermountain Health is committed to advancing this vital legislation. - Ryan Smith, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Intermountain Health

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About Patient ID Now

Patient ID Now is a coalition of healthcare organizations representing a wide range of healthcare stakeholders committed to advancing a nationwide strategy to address patient identification through legislation and regulations. Founding members include the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Inc. (HIMSS), and Intermountain Health.

Kate McFadyen
                    American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
                    202-480-6058
                    Kate.mcfadyen@ahima.org