Researchers examined whether using consistent formats for demographic data, such as addresses, names and dates of birth, could improve patient matching rates. They used four manually reviewed datasets that included a random selection of matches and nonmatches.
They found standardizing addresses using the U.S. Postal Service’s format can improve patient match rates by up to 3 percent. When standardized formats were used for both addresses and last names, match rates improved by up to 8 percent.
They also found that standardizing formats for telephone numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers did not make a significant difference to patient match rates.
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