CHIME Applauds Bipartisan Reintroduction of the MATCH IT Act of 2025

Ann Arbor, MI, March 18, 2025 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) applauds the reintroduction of H.R. 2002, the Patient Matching and Transparency in Certified Health IT (MATCH IT) Act of 2025, by Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Representative Bill Foster (D-IL) in the U.S. House of Representatives, cosponsored by Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA).

The MATCH IT Act proposes a standardized definition for “patient match rate,” aiming to improve patient safety, privacy, and healthcare delivery efficiency. The bill addresses longstanding challenges associated with patient misidentification — challenges that compromise patient security, lead to medical errors, and increase healthcare costs for both patients and providers.

Inaccurate patient matching has long posed significant threats to patient safety and privacy, leading to medical errors, unnecessary repeat procedures, and, in severe cases, patient harm or death. The financial impact is also substantial: duplicate medical records result in an average of $1,950 in added costs per inpatient stay and more than $1,700 per emergency department visit. Additionally, hospitals face an average of $2.5 million annually in denied claims due to patient misidentification, contributing to a staggering $6.7 billion total cost to the U.S. healthcare system.

The MATCH IT Act has been endorsed by the Patient ID Now coalition, American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Inc. (HIMSS), Intermountain Health, Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, American Medical Informatics Association, Baptist Health, Becton Dickinson (BD), Civitas Networks for Health, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), DirectTrust, e4health, Harris Data Integrity Solutions, Imprivata, Medical Group Management Association, MyLigo, Inc, Nemours Children's Health, OrthoVirginia, Parkview Health, Robert Wood Johnson Barnabus Health, and Verato.

“CHIME applauds the reintroduction of the MATCH IT Act, a critical step toward establishing patient matching standards that enhance patient safety, privacy, and healthcare efficiency,” said Russ Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME. “As the industry embraces innovative technologies, ensuring accurate patient identification has never been more urgent. The MATCH IT Act will provide a much-needed framework to improve interoperability, reduce errors, and uphold the integrity of the American healthcare system. We stand in strong support of this bipartisan effort to drive meaningful progress in patient care and health IT.”

“While Congress has rightly prioritized interoperability and digital health data exchange, progress toward these national priorities is inhibited by patient matching and identification issues,” said Ryan Smith, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Intermountain Health. “In addition, movement toward a value-based payment system in which care is coordinated across disparate providers of care is impeded because of difficulties in accurately identifying patients at the point of care and linking their prior care records.”

About CHIME

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 3,000 individual members in 58 countries and two U.S. territories and 200 CHIME Foundation healthcare IT business and professional service firm members, CHIME and its three associations provide a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate, exchange best practices, address professional development needs, and advocate for the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

About Patient ID Now

Patient ID Now is a coalition of healthcare organizations representing a wide range of healthcare stakeholders committed to advancing a nationwide strategy to address patient identification through legislation and regulations. Founding members include the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Inc. (HIMSS), and Intermountain Health.