Epidemiology of Patient Record Duplication

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Patient Record Management
• Health Equity

Background:

• Duplicate patient records pose significant risks, including increased healthcare costs and medical errors.
• Accurate patient identification is crucial for safe and effective healthcare delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between demographic factors, comorbidities, healthcare utilization, and the incidence of duplicate electronic health records.
• To identify high-risk patient populations susceptible to duplicate record creation.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of a large cohort of over 3 million patients from an urban academic medical center.
• Utilized a validated enterprise Master Person Index to identify duplicate medical records.
• Examined associations with demographic variables (race, ethnicity, sex, age), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), number of diagnoses, and healthcare encounters.

Main Results:

• Higher odds of duplicate records were observed in Black patients (OR: 1.35), Hispanic patients (OR: 1.48), and older individuals (OR: 1.01).
• Patients with "Other" sex (OR: 4.71), higher comorbidity scores (CCI, OR: 1.10), and more healthcare encounters (OR: 1.01) also showed increased odds.
• Male sex was associated with lower odds of duplicate records (OR: 0.88) compared to female sex.

Conclusions:

• Demographic factors, comorbidities, and healthcare usage patterns are significantly associated with duplicate patient records.
• Understanding the epidemiology of duplicate records is essential for developing targeted prevention and mitigation strategies.
• Addressing duplicate records can help reduce healthcare disparities, particularly among minority populations.