Electronic Health Reporter

Harris Data Integrity Solutions, the leading provider of best-in-class patient data integrity services and software, has been engaged by University Hospitals (UH) to undertake a comprehensive cleanup of UH Lake Health’s Master Patient Index (MPI) in preparation for the facility’s migration to Epic. In addition to eliminating duplicate and crossover patient records, Harris Data Integrity Solutions will support UH in clearing the hospital’s Roster Management Engine (RME) error queue.

Lake Health, which joined the Cleveland-based University Hospitals health system in April 2021, consists of UH Lake West Medical Center, UH Beachwood Medical Center, and UH TriPoint Medical Center. It is currently migrating to UH’s Epic electronic health record (EHR) system. However, prior to its patient information being integrated into the EHR, Lake Health’s MPI must be analyzed for and subsequently cleaned of any duplicate and potential crossover patient records that may exist across the UH system.

UH’s transition to Epic represents its single largest transformation investment. UH has embarked on a multi-year initiative to implement a new and fully integrated Epic-based EHR. This new system will improve the point of care experience for patients and caregivers, better enable patients to access their personal health information, advance its population health analytics, drive quantifiable clinical and revenue cycle benefits, and enable research and academic excellence.

Harris Data Integrity Solutions, an authorized Epic data remediation consultant, will leverage the EHR system’s possible duplicate/crossover report to perform a cleanup of UH Lake Health’s MPI and provide batch files back to UH for processing within the system. Its team of credentialled and highly experienced patient identity experts will also manage remediation using Harris Data Integrity Solutions’ proprietary automated duplicate resolution technology and third-party data sources, as well as manually when necessary.

The Harris Data Integrity Solutions team will also assist UH with resolving patient record discrepancies that cause them to be placed in the EHR system’s RME error queue. This occurs when data such as order results, documents, etc. cannot be filed automatically into the EHR because of a mismatch or fuzzy match on demographic, medical record number (MRN), or other patient-level data points. Without manual review and remediation, the interface does not know where the information should “live” in the patient chart.

“Duplicate and overlaid patient records can broadly impact patient care, safety, and outcomes, as well as increase costs and sap the productivity of clinicians and HIM professionals by diverting their focus away from core responsibilities. We’re thrilled to be helping UH protect their patients and their EHR investment by ensuring the success of Lake Health’s migration to Epic won’t be hindered by a compromised MPI,” said Lora Hefton, executive vice president of Harris Data Integrity Solutions.