Functions of the Patient EDM

While Sun Master Patient Index cleanses data automatically as it is entered through external system messages or the Patient EDM, there are instances where it cannot be determined automatically whether two patient profiles truly match one another. In these cases, manual review through the Patient EDM is needed to verify the status of the two profiles and then to possibly join two potential duplicate profiles or separate two profiles that were automatically joined. The Patient EDM provides additional functions to help you maintain the data you store. Using the Patient EDM, you can perform the following activities.

• View a Patient’s History – The system provides a complete transaction history of each patient profile by recording all changes to each patient’s data. This allows you to view before and after images of a profile for each change made. The table also records the user ID of the person who made the changes. This history is maintained for both the local system records and the SBR.

• Search for Patient Profiles – Using the Patient EDM, you can search for specific patients or sets of patients. The Patient EDM allows you to perform different types of searches using different combinations of data elements, and returns a list of potential matches to your search criteria. Sun Master Patient Index also parses address components, so you can search for a patient profile by their street address. For certain searches, the results are assigned a matching weight that indicates the probability of a match.

• Maintain Patient Data – The Patient EDM supports all the necessary features for maintaining patient profiles. It allows you to add new profiles; view, update, deactivate, or reactivate existing profiles; and compare profiles for similarities and differences. You can also view each local system record associated with an SBR.

• Compare Patient Data – The Patient EDM allows you to compare two patient profiles in a side-by-side comparison so you can evaluate their differences or similarities. You can also compare different objects within one patient profile in the same comparison view. For example, you can compare the profile’s SBR with a record from System A; or you can compare a profile’s record from System A with its record from System B.

• View and Resolve Potential Duplicates – Using algorithm matching logic,Sun Master Patient Index has the ability to identify potential duplicate profiles and the Patient EDM provides the ability to correct the duplicate profiles. Profiles that are potential duplicates can be viewed online in a side-by-side comparison. Potential duplication is resolved by either merging the profiles in question or removing their potential duplicate flags.

• Merge and Unmerge Profiles – You can compare potential duplicate profiles and then merge the profiles if you find them to be actual duplicates of one another. Using the merge feature, you can determine which profile to retain as the active profile. The Patient EDM also allows you to merge system records between patient profiles and to specify which information from each system record to preserve in the resulting profile. If two patient profiles or system records are merged in error, you can unmerge them, returning the information to the original records. You can also view a history of merges for a profile by viewing its merge tree.

• Add and View Comments – You can add free-text comments to a patient profile or system record to provide additional information about the patient that might not be included in the standard fields.

• Audit Log – The system administrator can specify that a log be maintained of each instance that patient data is accessed from the Patient EDM. This log provides information such as the user ID of the user who accessed the data, the type of action that was performed against the data, and the date and time of access. From the audit log, you can also view a transaction history for each transaction that caused an audit log entry.

• Security – Security is provided through the application server and includes basic access to the database through user login IDs and passwords, as well as access to specific functions and actions of Sun Master Patient Index. Access can be restricted by functions, actions within functions, data element, and user ID.