title: Facilitating linkage through universal patient identifiers: a difficult endeavor.
abstract: The article discusses the creation and use of universal patient identifiers to facilitate the linkage of patient records from all the components of the health care delivery system. The benefits and disadvantages of using a national health identifier that uses the Social Security number are discussed. A number of universal patient identifier proposals are presented to illustrate the complexity of the issue. The article concludes with a discussion of what health information managers can currently do in their own facilities to facilitate access to integrated information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Administration and Policy, Medical University of South Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Messler
mesh_terms: D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D010355:Patient Identification Systems; D014481:United States