Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2002 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2002
5	5	To amend title XXX of the Public Health Service Act to establish standards
6	6	and protocols to improve patient matching.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH10, 2025
9	9	Mr. K
10	10	ELLYof Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. FOSTER, and Mr. MOULTON)
11	11	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
12	12	ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and
13	13	Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
14	14	each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
15	15	tion of the committee concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To amend title XXX of the Public Health Service Act to
18	18	establish standards and protocols to improve patient
19	19	matching.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patient Matching And 4
24	24	Transparency in Certified Health IT Act of 2025’’ or the 5
25	25	‘‘MATCH IT Act of 2025’’. 6
26	26	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7
27	27	Congress finds the following: 8
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30	30	•HR 2002 IH
31	31	(1) Ensuring accurate patient identification and 1
32	32	matching is key to achieving the interoperability 2
33	33	within the health care system called for by Congress 3
34	34	in the 21st Century Cures Act and the Health Infor-4
35	35	mation Technology for Economic and Clinical 5
36	36	Health (HITECH) Act. 6
37	37	(2) There is currently no national strategy to 7
38	38	ensure patients are accurately matched with their 8
39	39	medical records. 9
40	40	(3) There is no standard definition across the 10
41	41	health care system of ‘‘patient match rate’’ to ensure 11
42	42	the ability to accurately measure patient matches 12
43	43	and patient misidentification. 13
44	44	(4) The patient match rates that are available 14
45	45	can vary widely, with an estimate from CHIME not-15
46	46	ing that matching within facilities can be as low as 16
47	47	80 percent—meaning that one out of every five pa-17
48	48	tients may not be matched to all his or her records. 18
49	49	(5) Patient misidentification within the United 19
50	50	States health care system is a threat to patient safe-20
51	51	ty, patient privacy, and a driver of unnecessary costs 21
52	52	to patients and providers. 22
53	53	(6) The inability of clinicians to ensure patients 23
54	54	are accurately matched with their medical record has 24
55	55	caused medical errors, and even lives lost. Patient 25
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58	58	•HR 2002 IH
59	59	misidentification has been named a recurrent patient 1
60	60	safety challenge in multiple years by ECRI. 2
61	61	(7) Patients must undergo unnecessary re-3
62	62	peated medical tests because of the inability to en-4
63	63	sure accurate matches to their medical record. 5
64	64	(8) The expense of repeated medical care due to 6
65	65	duplicate records costs an average of $1,950 per pa-7
66	66	tient inpatient stay, and more than $1,700 per 8
67	67	emergency department visit. Thirty-five percent of 9
68	68	all denied claims result from inaccurate patient iden-10
69	69	tification, costing the average hospital $2.5 million 11
70	70	and the United States health care system more than 12
71	71	$6.7 billion annually. 13
72	72	(9) Overlaid records, caused by merging mul-14
73	73	tiple patients’ data into one medical record, may re-15
74	74	sult in unauthorized disclosures under the Health 16
75	75	Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 17
76	76	(HIPAA), as well as the risk of a patient receiving 18
77	77	treatment for another patient’s condition. 19
78	78	(10) This Act would decrease the prevalence of 20
79	79	patient misidentification by further promoting inter-21
80	80	operability, thereby protecting patients and address-22
81	81	ing high costs driven by this issue. 23
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84	84	•HR 2002 IH
85	85	SEC. 3. STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS TO IMPROVE PA-1
86	86	TIENT MATCHING. 2
87	87	(a) I
88	88	NGENERAL.—Subtitle C of title XXX of the 3
89	89	Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300jj–51 et seq.) 4
90	90	is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 5
91	91	‘‘SEC. 3023. STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS TO IMPROVE PA-6
92	92	TIENT MATCHING. 7
93	93	‘‘(a) E
94	94	STABLISHING AUNIFORMDEFINITION FOR 8
95	95	P
96	96	ATIENTMATCHRATE.— 9
97	97	‘‘(1) I
98	98	N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10
99	99	after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec-11
100	100	retary shall, in consultation with health care pro-12
101	101	viders, vendors of electronic health records and 13
102	102	health information technology, patient groups, and 14
103	103	other relevant stakeholders, develop a definition and 15
104	104	standards for accurate and precise patient matching 16
105	105	to track patient match rates and document improve-17
106	106	ments of patient matching over time. The Secretary 18
107	107	shall ensure that such definition and standards for 19
108	108	patient match rate account for— 20
109	109	‘‘(A) duplicate records; 21
110	110	‘‘(B) overlaid records; 22
111	111	‘‘(C) instances of multiple matches found; 23
112	112	and 24
113	113	‘‘(D) mismatch rates within the same 25
114	114	healthcare organizations and provider systems. 26
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118	118	‘‘(2) REVIEW AND UPDATE .—In consultation 1
119	119	with health care providers, vendors of electronic 2
120	120	health records and health information technology, 3
121	121	patient groups, and other relevant stakeholders, the 4
122	122	Secretary shall review and update the definition and 5
123	123	standards developed under paragraph (1), as appro-6
124	124	priate, not less frequently than once every 3 years 7
125	125	to ensure that such definition and standards are 8
126	126	consistent with updates and improvements in tech-9
127	127	nologies and processes. 10
128	128	‘‘(b) D
129	129	EVELOPMENT OF A STANDARDDATASETTO 11
130	130	I
131	131	MPROVEPATIENTMATCHING.— 12
132	132	‘‘(1) I
133	133	N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 13
134	134	after the date of enactment of this section, subject 14
135	135	to paragraph (2), the National Coordinator shall re-15
136	136	view the current data set in the United States Core 16
137	137	Data for Interoperability and identify, define, and 17
138	138	adopt the minimum data set needed to support the 18
139	139	adoption of patient matching by entities, including 19
140	140	health care providers, developers of health care in-20
141	141	formation technology or certified health IT, or 21
142	142	health information networks of exchange, at a rate 22
143	143	of 99.9 percent. The National Coordinator shall in-23
144	144	clude such minimum data set in the United States 24
145	145	Core Data for Interoperability. 25
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148	148	•HR 2002 IH
149	149	‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT OF DATA STANDARDS IN 1
150	150	UNITED STATES CORE DATA FOR INTEROPER -2
151	151	ABILITY.—For purposes of improving interoperable 3
152	152	health exchange, not later than 1 year after defining 4
153	153	the minimum data set described in paragraph (1), 5
154	154	the National Coordinator shall create, update, or 6
155	155	adopt data standards for the data elements identi-7
156	156	fied in the minimum data set and incorporate such 8
157	157	standards into the United States Core Data for 9
158	158	Interoperability. 10
159	159	‘‘(3) C
160	160	ONSULTATION REQUIRED .—In identifying 11
161	161	and defining the minimum data set described in 12
162	162	paragraph (1) and creating, updating, or adopting 13
163	163	data standards described in paragraph (2), the Na-14
164	164	tional Coordinator shall consult with— 15
165	165	‘‘(A) health care providers; 16
166	166	‘‘(B) vendors of electronic health records; 17
167	167	‘‘(C) vendors of health information tech-18
168	168	nology; 19
169	169	‘‘(D) patient groups; 20
170	170	‘‘(E) Federal agencies, including the Na-21
171	171	tional Institute of Standards and Technology, 22
172	172	the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23
173	173	the Department of Defense, the National Insti-24
174	174	tutes of Health, the Department of Veterans 25
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177	177	•HR 2002 IH
178	178	Affairs, the Social Security Administration, the 1
179	179	Indian Health Service, and the Office for Civil 2
180	180	Rights; 3
181	181	‘‘(F) public health authorities within State, 4
182	182	local, territorial, and Tribal; and 5
183	183	‘‘(G) any other stakeholders the Secretary 6
184	184	determines appropriate. 7
185	185	‘‘(4) R
186	186	ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 8
187	187	this subsection shall be construed to require an enti-9
188	188	ty to meet a minimum patient match rate of 99.9 10
189	189	percent.’’. 11
190	190	(b) I
191	191	NCORPORATING THE MINIMUMDATASET FOR 12
192	192	P
193	193	ATIENTMATCHINGINTOCERTIFICATIONREQUIRE-13
194	194	MENTS.—Section 3004(b) of subtitle B of title XXX of 14
195	195	the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300jj–14(b)) is 15
196	196	amended by adding at the end the following new subpara-16
197	197	graph: 17
198	198	‘‘(4) S
199	199	PECIAL RULE.— 18
200	200	‘‘(A) I
201	201	NCORPORATION OF MINIMUM DATA 19
202	202	SET INTO HEALTH IT CERTIFICATION REQUIRE -20
203	203	MENTS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (3), the 21
204	204	Secretary shall incorporate and adopt the min-22
205	205	imum data set for patient matching established 23
206	206	under section 3023 into the certification criteria 24
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209	209	•HR 2002 IH
210	210	adopted under this section not later than 180 1
211	211	days after such data set is finalized. 2
212	212	‘‘(B) I
213	213	NCORPORATION OF MINIMUM DATA 3
214	214	SET INTO MEDICARE INTEROPERABILITY PRO -4
215	215	GRAM REQUIREMENTS .—Not later than 24 5
216	216	months after the incorporation of the minimum 6
217	217	data set for patient matching into the certifi-7
218	218	cation criteria as required in subparagraph (A), 8
219	219	the Secretary shall incorporate and adopt such 9
220	220	minimum data set for patient matching estab-10
221	221	lished under section 3023 into program require-11
222	222	ments to promote the interoperability of cer-12
223	223	tified EHR technology for entities participating 13
224	224	in the Medicare program under title XVIII of 14
225	225	the Social Security Act.’’. 15
226	226	(c) A
227	227	DDITIONALINCENTIVESTOPROMOTEINTER-16
228	228	OPERABILITY.— 17
229	229	(1) I
230	230	N GENERAL.—Not later than 24 months 18
231	231	after the incorporation and adoption of the min-19
232	232	imum data set for patient matching into the pro-20
233	233	gram requirements to promote the interoperability of 21
234	234	certified EHR technology for entities participating 22
235	235	under the Medicare program under title XVIII of 23
236	236	the Social Security Act as required in subparagraph 24
237	237	(B) of section 3004(b)(4) of title XXX of the Public 25
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240	240	•HR 2002 IH
241	241	Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300jj–14(b)), the Ad-1
242	242	ministrator of the Centers for Medicare and Med-2
243	243	icaid Services shall, through rulemaking, establish a 3
244	244	voluntary bonus measure within the Medicare Pro-4
245	245	moting Interoperability Program for eligible pro-5
246	246	viders who meet an accurate patient match rate (as 6
247	247	defined under section 3023 of subtitle C of title 7
248	248	XXX of the Public Health Service Act) of at least 8
249	249	90 percent or the rate determined under paragraph 9
250	250	(4) to voluntary attest to and receive a payment ad-10
251	251	justment for meeting such measure. 11
252	252	(2) S
253	253	PECIAL RULE.—In establishing the vol-12
254	254	untary bonus measure described in paragraph (1), 13
255	255	the Administrator shall— 14
256	256	(A) ensure that the total score for incen-15
257	257	tive payments or status as an eligible provider 16
258	258	will not be negatively impacted if the eligible 17
259	259	provider does not attest to an accurate patient 18
260	260	match rate; and 19
261	261	(B) ensure that the voluntary attestations 20
262	262	regarding patient matching rates shall not be 21
263	263	publicly disclosed. 22
264	264	(3) V
265	265	OLUNTARY REPORTING PROGRAM .—The 23
266	266	National Coordinator, along with the Centers for 24
267	267	Medicare and Medicaid Services and other Federal 25
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270	270	•HR 2002 IH
271	271	agencies determined appropriate by the Secretary, 1
272	272	shall develop a voluntary reporting program for eligi-2
273	273	ble providers to anonymously submit patient match-3
274	274	ing accuracy data to the Department of Health and 4
275	275	Human Services. 5
276	276	(4) A
277	277	NNUAL REVIEW OF PATIENT MATCH 6
278	278	RATE.— 7
279	279	(A) I
280	280	N GENERAL.—Utilizing the patient 8
281	281	matching accuracy data described in paragraph 9
282	282	(2) and any additional data sources available, 10
283	283	the Administrator of the Centers of Medicare 11
284	284	and Medicaid Services shall review and evaluate 12
285	285	the patient match attestation rates annually to 13
286	286	determine if such rate should be adjusted. 14
287	287	(B) A
288	288	DJUSTMENT.—The Administrator 15
289	289	may adjust the patient match rate described in 16
290	290	paragraph (1) if the Administrator determines 17
291	291	that the patient match attestation rate should 18
292	292	be adjusted to further incentivize the voluntary 19
293	293	reporting of accurate patient match rates. 20
294	294	Æ
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