title: A strategy for statistical Master Person Index linking.
abstract: A linking program used by Connecticut Healthcare Information Management and Exchange to maintain the Master Person Index for its large, state-wide patient data repository is being stretched beyond its limits by the growing size and complexity of the database. This paper presents the early work into developing a second-generation linking program. Like the original program, the new linker will use a unique multi-step process to allow effective linking of data from a large number of dissimilar data sources. The new linker will use parallel multi-processing to allow improved performance and scalability. These changes will also make possible more sophisticated statistical methods of defining link confidence. The system is implemented using a scalable collection of inexpensive, PC based systems running the Linux operating system, a freely available database engine, and the Java programming language.
authors.affiliation: Connecticut Healthcare Research and Education Foundation, Wallingford, USA.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: I P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Shevchenko
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Reed-Fourquet
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D003237:Connecticut; D019992:Databases as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*