CCHF Denounces Current Push to Implement Unique Patient ID

ST. PAUL Minn. – The 1996 passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) entailed a hotly contested mandate to issue each and every American a Unique Patient Identifier, or UPI, number. The new form of medical identification would identify every patient, link their medical records, and allow for broad sharing, monitoring research, and analysis of the American public through the Nationwide Health Information Network, or NHIN. Public outcry against the UPI forced Congress to prohibit funding for the card, in order to stop its implementation.

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