CHIME Sharpens Focus on Patient Identification Mission, Encourages Stakeholders to Join in Solution

ANN ARBOR, MI, Nov. 15, 2017 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) announced today that after nearly two years of work and a great deal of deliberation, CHIME Healthcare Innovation Trust has decided to suspend the National Patient ID Challenge. CHIME remains committed, however, to finding a national solution that accurately identifies a patient 100 percent of the time, and will continue to make it a top priority.

“We firmly believe that accurate patient identification is fundamental to patient care today and that innovation will lead to better, more affordable, more accessible and more equitable care,” said Russell Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME. “Though we’ve made great progress and moved the industry forward in many ways through the Challenge, we ultimately did not achieve the results we sought to this complex problem. We decided the best course for addressing this patient safety hazard is to redirect our attention and resources to another strategy.”

CHIME will assist in developing a Patient Identification Task Force through CHIME Healthcare Innovation Trust, the CHIME affiliate that sponsored the CHIME National Patient ID Challenge. CHIME played an integral part in activating the conversation about the importance of a national patient identification solution and is well positioned to bring together health IT leaders from the provider community and industry as well as policy makers and others to build a multisector task force.

CHIME commends the Challenge innovators for their commitment to improving healthcare and is encouraging them to participate on the task force.

“We will continue to lead, but we cannot do this alone,” Branzell said, noting that Washington has signaled a possible easing of restrictions on supporting a national patient identification solution. Still, these actions are not sufficient to meet CHIME’s goals. “We need industry and government to join us with the same level of passion and commitment that our members show in their positions as CIOs and senior health IT executives.”

This is the final update on the CHIME Healthcare Innovation Trust National Patient Identification Challenge.

About CHIME

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,400 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

Contact
Candace Stuart
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
734.665.0000
[email protected]