Patient misidentification is a growing problem for hospitals and health systems, but better technology such as biometrics could help, says a new survey of 530 healthcare chief financial officers conducted by health information technology and security research firm Ponemon Institute on behalf of Imprivata, a developer and provider of healthcare security services. A patient is misidentified in the typical healthcare facility very frequently or all the time, according to the survey. Survey respondents attributed inaccurate patient identification or incomplete patient information as the reason for 35% of all medical claims being denied, which are valued at an estimated $17.4 million per year per hospital.

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