Duplicate records in healthcare — fact or fiction?
Have you ever seen a bank send you a statement twice? Or a credit card transaction processed twice? Maybe Amazon accidentally delivered the same item to your house twice? Rare — but it happens.
Now, let’s talk healthcare. Duplication of health data is often mentioned as a major problem, but is it truly a problem — or just a reflection of a complex system?
The key to understanding this lies in context. What kind of data are we talking about?
Healthcare data can be broken down by:
Where it came from (provider systems, pharmacies, labs)
What it represents (diagnosis, prescriptions, claims)
How it's being used (billing, analytics, patient care)
Depending on the use case, a “duplicate” might not be a duplicate at all. Let’s break it down:
Duplicate diagnoses from two different providers — is it redundant, or just two perspectives on the same issue?
Duplicate prescriptions from two pharmacies — is it an error, or a patient legitimately filling meds from multiple sources?
Duplicate claims submitted by a hospital — is it fraud, or just the messy reality of complex billing workflows?
Data quality — just like duplicates — is highly contextual. Instead of throwing around the word duplicate, let’s call things what they are. Is it:
Conflicting data from multiple sources?
Artifacts of an inefficient system?
Genuine errors needing correction?
Healthcare data isn’t broken — it’s just...artifact of a broken workflow and complicated healthcare system designed to maximize revenue. 😅