Sec. 4007. GAO STUDY ON PATIENT MATCHING

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## SEC. 4007 GAO STUDY ON PATIENT MATCHING ###

(a)In general Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study to— ####

(1)review the policies and activities of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and other relevant stakeholders, which may include standards development organizations, experts in the technical aspects of health information technology, health information technology developers, providers of health services, health care suppliers, health care payers, health care quality organizations, States, health information technology policy experts, and other appropriate entities, to ensure appropriate patient matching to protect patient privacy and security with respect to electronic health records and the exchange of electronic health information; and ####

(2)survey ongoing efforts related to the policies and activities described in paragraph

(1)and the effectiveness of such efforts occurring in the private sector. ###

(b)Areas of concentration In conducting the study under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall— ####

(1)evaluate current methods used in certified electronic health records for patient matching based on performance related to factors such as— #####

(A)the privacy of patient information; #####

(B)the security of patient information; #####

(C)improving matching rates; #####

(D)reducing matching errors; and #####

(E)reducing duplicate records; and ####

(2)determine whether the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology could improve patient matching by taking steps including— #####

(A)defining additional data elements to assist in patient data matching; #####

(B)agreeing on a required minimum set of elements that need to be collected and exchanged; #####

(C)requiring electronic health records to have the ability to make certain fields required and use specific standards; and #####

(D)other options recommended by the relevant stakeholders consulted pursuant to subsection (a). ###

(c)Report Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report concerning the findings of the study conducted under subsection (a).