Preparing for the future of patient identity: The role of Imprivata Patient Access in MATCH IT Act readiness

The proposed MATCH IT Act puts renewed focus on accurate patient identification. Learn why establishing a trusted patient identity helps create a stronger foundation for matching patients with the right health information.

Accurately matching patients with their health information is fundamental to safe, efficient healthcare. Yet patient matching remains a persistent challenge, particularly as patients and their information move among providers, electronic health records (EHRs), health information networks, and other systems.

What is the MATCH IT Act?

The proposed Patient Matching and Transparency in Certified Health IT (MATCH IT) Act of 2025 puts renewed attention on that challenge. Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 2002, the bipartisan legislation seeks to establish standards and protocols for improving patient matching across the healthcare system.

The MATCH IT Act is proposed legislation, not a current compliance requirement. But it spotlights a challenge that healthcare organizations already face: reliably connecting the right patient with the right health information.

Solving that problem requires looking beyond the matching algorithm. Standards can help improve the consistency of patient matching, but even the best standards depend on the quality and accuracy of the patient identity information entering the system. Because better patient matching starts with accurate identity verification.

Better patient matching starts before the match

Patient matching algorithms can only work with the identity information they’re given. If identity information captured or used at registration is incomplete, inconsistent, inaccurate, outdated, or associated with the wrong individual, downstream matching becomes more difficult. That makes accurate identity verification at the beginning of the patient journey essential.

Before asking, “Does this record match this patient?” healthcare organizations first need to answer a more fundamental question: “Do we know who this person is?”

Identity verification establishes confidence in who an individual is. Patient record matching connects information about that individual with the appropriate record. Strengthening identity verification at patient access therefore gives downstream matching a more reliable foundation.

Where Imprivata Patient Access fits

Imprivata Patient Access (PA) brings identity verification to the front of the patient journey, helping healthcare organizations build greater confidence in patient identity and support consistent matching to the appropriate record during subsequent visits. Using facial biometrics and identity verification, PA supports workflows for enrolling, identifying, and verifying patients, as well as authenticating enrolled patients during subsequent interactions.

The approach reflects a broader Imprivata identity principle: Enroll once. Authenticate everywhere.

For the patient journey, that can be understood as a sequence:

Identify → Verify → Establish trusted identity → Connect that identity to the appropriate patient record → Enable trusted access

For example, PA supports identification for walk-in and emergency department patients as well as verification for scheduled visits. The Emergency Search capability can help staff identify an enrolled patient who is unconscious or otherwise unable to identify themselves.

Trusted identity can extend to digital interactions as well. Imprivata Patient Access integrates with Epic MyChart to support remote enrollment and identity verification, including MyChart account creation and recovery. Patients completing remote enrollment can use a government-issued ID and selfie to verify their identity before a scheduled visit, extending trusted identity from digital access into in-person care.

How Imprivata Patient Access can support MATCH IT Act readiness

Although the MATCH IT Act is not yet a compliance requirement, healthcare organizations can strengthen the practices that support more accurate patient matching today. Imprivata Patient Access can help in three important areas.

1. Improve identity information at patient access

The MATCH IT Act would direct the federal government to establish the demographic data elements and standards needed to support more accurate patient matching. PA complements that goal by helping healthcare organizations create more consistent identity workflows when patient information is collected and verified, supporting greater confidence in the patient record used during subsequent visits.

2. Reduce the risk of duplicate and incorrect records

When staff have greater confidence in an individual's identity before creating or connecting a record, healthcare organizations can help reduce errors that contribute to duplicate or incorrect medical records. For enrolled patients, PA can use facial recognition to help identify individuals and link them to the appropriate EHR record, helping prevent identity-related errors and the need for downstream remediation.

3. Strengthen identity across existing patient workflows

Improving patient identity should not require healthcare organizations to replace their existing patient-access infrastructure or create a separate identity workflow. PA brings stronger identity verification into the EHR environments and workflows that organizations already use. Within Epic, for example, it supports enrollment and authentication across multiple workflows and integrates with MyChart for digital identity verification. This allows organizations to strengthen identity throughout the entire care journey.

Patient matching starts with trusted patient identity

The MATCH IT Act focuses on improving how healthcare organizations match patients to their records. Achieving that goal also requires organizations to think about identity beyond registration.

Imprivata Patient Access helps establish greater confidence in patient identity at the point of access and maintain that trusted identity across subsequent interactions. By strengthening identity verification, healthcare organizations can create cleaner, more trusted identity information to support more accurate patient matching, more efficient revenue cycle processes, and safer patient experiences.

Learn how Imprivata Patient Access helps healthcare organizations establish trusted patient identity across the care journey.