The Importance of Processing Duplicates in an Mpi

Importance of keeping a clean and standardized MPI A clean chasten Patient Index is a huge part of a successful healthc are organization. Therefor, it is very important to identify duplicate records. Duplicate records could cause major(ip) issues such as forbearing safety, risk management, legal, customer service, and other issues. For example duplicate lab tests could be ordered by doctors and preformed , one of the most everyday being radiology exams because the previous films were non available for comparison. There have been delays in surgery referable to lack of available medical history due to duplicate records.Another common issue with duplicate records is the fact that initial treatment is sometimes delayed. Duplicate record management reports should be reviewed to make sure solely of the duplicates have been taken care of and merged properly. One thing that we all need to remember is that the MPI is not an automated process and no particular steering of repairing reco rds takes away the human component. Therefore it is important to review all possible duplicates, identify those that need more research and those that can be confirmed as true duplicates. Then verify all possible duplicates that require additional research and reconcile those records.The HIM supervisors role in managing the duplicate processes and workflow is to assign item tasks to specific staff members, review duplicate management reports, oversee the process of identifying duplicate records, make sure corrections are made and done correctly. They should besides try to minimize the causes of duplicates, by looking for patterns. The problem may be created in a specific situation or a specific department. The HIM supervisor might also evaluate current processes for reconciliation of duplicate records and overlaid medical records. The bigger the database, the bigger the duplication problem can be.The productivity of the duplicate confluence process is important to monitor to be sure there is no information being deleted or added in the process. It is also important to monitor it so there is no need to re-run and re-run the uniform reports to double and triple check that duplicates no longer exist. The organization should set MPI standards and processing standards, as there are no set industry standards. There are EMPI recommendations as seen in appendix A AHIMA recommended data elements. It is very important to set standards based on the recommended data elements in appendix A so that nationally and even internationally, your MPI will be asily read and understood, if needed. It is important that it be similar if not the same as other organizations MPIs so if anyone from another facility or organization needs to access patient records from your database, it will be straight-forward. It is also a profound idea to follow the same or similar procedures as other organizations so when new staff is hired or transferred, there will not be very much training need ed. In closing, it is very important to keep a clean and standardized MPI for many many reasons ease of use, patient safety, timely treatment, and transferability, not to mention billing and legal reasons.