Healthcare identifiers: An overview

Health care systems in our nation are undergoing rapid restructuring. Managed care and integrated delivery systems have resulted in geographically dispersed and functionally diverse Entities such as group practices, independent practice associations, management services organizations, physician/hospital organizations, provider-based organizations, etc.. The purpose of the unique health identifiers is to uniquely identify individuals, employers, health plans and health care providers within the health care system and establish a comprehensive framework which will facilitate exchange of information, improved access, continuity of care, quality improvement, outcome measurements and population-based health services research. Several proposals have been made to address the patient identification need. Similarly several methods have been proposed to address the employer, health plan, and provider identification need. A brief discussion of these proposals are provided below.