title: The Building Blocks of Interoperability. A Multisite Analysis of Patient Demographic Attributes Available for Matching.
abstract: Patient matching is a key barrier to achieving interoperability. Patient demographic elements must be consistently collected over time and region to be valuable elements for patient matching.
  
  
  
  We sought to determine what patient demographic attributes are collected at multiple institutions in the United States and see how their availability changes over time and across clinical sites.
  
  
  
  We compiled a list of 36 demographic elements that stakeholders previously identified as essential patient demographic attributes that should be collected for the purpose of linking patient records. We studied a convenience sample of 9 health care systems from geographically distinct sites around the country. We identified changes in the availability of individual patient demographic attributes over time and across clinical sites.
  
  
  
  Several attributes were consistently available over the study period (2005-2014) including last name (99.96%), first name (99.95%), date of birth (98.82%), gender/sex (99.73%), postal code (94.71%), and full street address (94.65%). Other attributes changed significantly from 2005-2014: Social security number (SSN) availability declined from 83.3% to 50.44% (p<0.0001). Email address availability increased from 8.94% up to 54% availability (p<0.0001). Work phone number increased from 20.61% to 52.33% (p<0.0001).
  
  
  
  Overall, first name, last name, date of birth, gender/sex and address were widely collected across institutional sites and over time. Availability of emerging attributes such as email and phone numbers are increasing while SSN use is declining. Understanding the relative availability of patient attributes can inform strategies for optimal matching in healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Adam Culbertson, 4300 Wilson Blvd., Suite 250, Arlington, VA 22203, aculbertson@himss.org.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Culbertson
authors.forename: Satyender
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.forename: Margaret B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.forename: Niloufar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Safaeinili
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Carton
authors.forename: Russ
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Waitman
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krishnamurthy
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Nickie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cappella
authors.forename: Shyam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Visweswaran
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Becich
authors.forename: Reuben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Applegate
authors.forename: Elmer
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bernstam
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matheny
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lipori
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grannis
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klann
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sutphen
authors.forename: Amy B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: O'Hara
authors.forename: Abel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kho
mesh_terms: D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods*; D010355:Patient Identification Systems; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Record linkage; data collection; data completeness; data processing; data validation and verification; master patient index