--- title: Friday Feature | Will the Senate Fail the Healthcare Industry Again? description: The House passed a bill that does not include the patient identifier ban. While this is good news, there is still a long road ahead beyond Senate approval. image: https://www.bookzurman.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/The%20Capitol%20and%20Reflecting%20Pool%20in%20Washington%2c%20DC_-1.jpeg --- ![Book Zurman, Inc | Healthcare IT Solutions](https://www.bookzurman.com/hubfs/logos/BookZurman%20SVG%20Logos/BZ-logo-tagline-RGB-leftalign.svg) [![Book Zurman, Inc | Healthcare IT Solutions](https://www.bookzurman.com/hubfs/logos/BookZurman%20SVG%20Logos/BZ-logo-tagline-RGB-leftalign.svg "Book Zurman, Inc | Healthcare IT Solutions")](https://www.bookzurman.com/) - Healthcare Solutions - By Sector - [Private](https://www.bookzurman.com/private-sector-healthcare-it-systems) - [Federal](https://www.bookzurman.com/public-health-it-systems) - By Solution - [Informatics Architecture](https://www.bookzurman.com/healthcare-data-solutions) - [Clinical Decision Support](https://www.bookzurman.com/clinical-decision-support-tools) - [Standards and Interoperability](https://www.bookzurman.com/interoperability-in-healthcare) - [Care Coordination](https://www.bookzurman.com/care-management-solutions) - [Consulting](https://www.bookzurman.com/healthcare-it-consulting-services) - [Blog](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog) - About Us - [About BZ](https://www.bookzurman.com/about) - [Partners](https://www.bookzurman.com/healthcare-standards-community-partners) - [Contact Us](https://www.bookzurman.com/contact-us) [GET INDEPENDENT ADVICE](https://www.bookzurman.com/get-independent-advice) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Friday Feature | Will the Senate Fail the Healthcare Industry Again? [Brian Book](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/author/brian-book) 2021-08-27 ![](https://www.bookzurman.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/The%20Capitol%20and%20Reflecting%20Pool%20in%20Washington%2c%20DC_-1.jpeg?width=1600&height=1600&name=The%20Capitol%20and%20Reflecting%20Pool%20in%20Washington%2c%20DC_-1.jpeg) BookZurman is proud to share a recent post featuring the insights from guest author, [Brian Book](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-book-5945769/), BZ's Founder and President.  In July 2021, for the first time, the House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that does not include the patient identifier ban, called Section 510. While this is a step in the right direction, there is still a long road ahead beyond potential Senate approval. *Brian Book* A Road to Unique Patient IDs, Paved with Good Intentions In a recently published article, “[After 20-year effort, Tom Leary of HIMSS is optimistic for removal of ban on patient identification strategy](https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/after-20-year-effort-tom-leary-himss-optimistic-passage-patient-identifier),” the author shares how the ban has been in place due to patient privacy reasons, but expresses how patient safety, and interoperability, can be better served if each patient has an identification number. Now, we await the Senate’s decision by September 30, 2021. We need this. The industry needs this. Most importantly, patients need this! With a moratorium since 1999 trying to get this ban lifted, it's been a long time coming. With the ban in place, no federal dollars can go toward development of unique patient identifiers. Once lifted, we can finally work to solve this problem and move away from an algorithmic approach to patient IDs. What This Means for Patients By lifting the ban, the healthcare community can finally link patient records by a unique identifier, making patient data more interoperable and available to doctors where the patients are. As stated in the article referenced above: “Passage of the appropriations bill in the Senate would mean the Department of Health and Human Services could get involved in a national strategy to create unique patient identifiers. Overturning the ban would allow patients to be identified by a number, which would ensure that medical records are connected to the appropriate person, and not another individual named John Smith. For instance, it would help in the identification of patients getting two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Leary said.” This is a no brainer benefit. So, let’s not make it hard… A Fast-track ID Solution by Looking Outside Healthcare? [Patient identification](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/brianbookshiftspatientmatchingprotocol), in data terms, is not a unique problem. If we look outside of the healthcare industry, standards-based solutions already exist. For example, the financial-services industry is the leader in identity matching. Credit-card standards, for example, can produce multi-vendor, unique numbers that match IDs to a person, an account, and a transaction worldwide to five- and six-decimal-point accuracy. It’s likely those standards could be easily and quickly customized for healthcare. Why are we searing for answers that already exist? This is a waste of time and effort. In fact, I would argue that it makes perfect sense for the healthcare industry to leverage the financial industry’s experience and infrastructure in identity matching. The healthcare community needs to stop believing that its interoperability challenges are unique. Another example we can apply this logic to is [patient-matching](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/patient-matching) – the ability of different electronic health records to correctly identify a patient so all of their information is accurately transmitted. This successful solution could be tailored to solve this problem in the healthcare industry. Not all problems need reinvented solutions. For now, we wait to see what action the Senate takes, and hope it’s one that continues to move this important initiative forward. [Share this blog post on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=I+found+this+interesting+blog+post&url=https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/friday-feature_bb_08.27.21) [Share this blog post on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/friday-feature_bb_08.27.21) [Share this blog post on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/friday-feature_bb_08.27.21) ![Brian Book](https://www.bookzurman.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/profile-pics/Brian%20Book_headshot.jpg?width=150&name=Brian%20Book_headshot.jpg) #### Brian Book [Follow me on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-book-5945769/) [Follow me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/bzi_brianbook?lang=en) A trusted interoperability advisor and expert in the healthcare standards community, Brian founded the healthcare IT consulting firm, BookZurman (BZ) in 1996. Certified as a Center for Veteran Enterprises business, and service-disabled veteran-owned small business, the company bridges the gap between healthcare and technology through the interpretation, implementation and transformation of healthcare IT standards for a better patient experience. ## Related Articles [![](https://www.bookzurman.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/6a0120a5580826970c022ad3a71c26200b-800wi.jpg?width=700&height=700&name=6a0120a5580826970c022ad3a71c26200b-800wi.jpg)](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/2019fhirconnectathon) ## [Team BZ is getting FHIR'd up this weekend!](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/2019fhirconnectathon) [BookZurman](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/author/bookzurman) 2019-09-13 [![](https://www.bookzurman.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/close%20up%20of%20paper%20airplane%20on%20white%20background%20with%20clipping%20path.jpeg?width=700&height=700&name=close%20up%20of%20paper%20airplane%20on%20white%20background%20with%20clipping%20path.jpeg)](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/healthcare-it-why-continue-to-re-create-the-wing) ## [Healthcare IT: Why continue to re-create the wing?](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/healthcare-it-why-continue-to-re-create-the-wing) Imagine for a moment that you are responsible for standing up a Level 1 trauma... [BookZurman](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/author/bookzurman) 2019-04-08 [![](https://www.bookzurman.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Credit%20cards.jpeg?width=700&height=700&name=Credit%20cards.jpeg)](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/patient-matching) ## [Patient Matching: Searching for Answers that Already Exist](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/patient-matching) It’s time for the healthcare community to stop believing that its challenges –... [BookZurman](https://www.bookzurman.com/blog/author/bookzurman) 2019-02-12 [![BZ-logo-RGB-White-Book-Font](https://www.bookzurman.com/hubfs/logos/BookZurman%20SVG%20Logos/BZ-logo-RGB-White-Book-Font.svg "BZ-logo-RGB-White-Book-Font")](https://www.bookzurman.com/) BookZurman specializes in managing complex program lifecycles that include developing, deploying, and maintaining large-scale, enterprise-wide healthcare IT systems. 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