FHIR Chat · App developer does Unique ID fail :-)

Stream: social

Topic: App developer does Unique ID fail :-)

Dave deBronkart (May 11 2020 at 22:50):

Firely got an email today from a losing competitor in last fall's Patient Innovator Track, notifying them that winner John Keyes had died.

Um, no - did you guys know it's important to be sure you've got the right patient? The obit you sent is about a poor fellow who died of colon cancer in Syracuse ... our winning @John Keyes has a blood condition outside Boston. :-)

John Keyes (May 11 2020 at 22:53):

Yikes! Thankfully I am alive and well. Too bad to lose another John Keyes from this world though.

John Keyes (May 11 2020 at 22:56):

But he is not far from my age, and I did go to college in Syracuse a long time ago.

Dave deBronkart (May 11 2020 at 23:14):

I just think it's funny that an app developer would not be conscious of this issue. :-) (And glad we picked you over them!)

John Keyes (May 11 2020 at 23:21):

Thank you; so am I! :slight_smile:

John Moehrke (May 11 2020 at 23:26):

Given that the USA has forbidden a National Patient Id; the result is that all matching of patient identity from one region to another is done with fuzzy matching on demographics... so, imagine the other mistakes that happen because we are afraid of a National Patient ID

John Moehrke (May 11 2020 at 23:28):

note that a national patient ID does not solve all problems... and it can introduce problems... but forbidding to discuss and develop solutions is atrocious.

Dave deBronkart (May 11 2020 at 23:30):

This is, btw, the only known advantage to having the name Richard Davies deBronkart jr. None other in the world.

John Moehrke (May 11 2020 at 23:30):

especially when the reason given for this forbiddance is "Privacy"... yet the solution in absence of an opaque national patient ID is that we are forced to do demographics matching, usually with a centralized database of demographics including phone numbers, addresses, SSN, gender, etc