Preventing medical errors: Enhancing safety and reducing costs

Patient misidentification is a leading cause of medical errors, fueling patient harm, denied claims, and unnecessary costs. By focusing on prevention rather than correction, organizations can ensure patient safety and stronger financial performance.

Medical errors remain one of the leading threats to patient safety in the United States. In fact, medical errors are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. And behind many of these errors is a dangerous but preventable cause: patient misidentification.

From registration to treatment, even minor errors that fail to link the right patient to the right record can have cascading effects. Misidentification not only compromises patient safety but also fuels unnecessary costs and undermines trust. Preventing these errors requires a thorough examination of their root causes, their impact, and the solutions available to avoid them.

The human cost of misidentification

When a patient checks in at registration, every subsequent clinical and administrative process depends on that interaction working correctly. Yet research shows this is precisely where most patient identification errors begin. In one report, 63% of respondents cited registration errors as the primary cause of misidentification. These mistakes can stem from similar-sounding names, outdated demographic information, or incomplete records — but the consequences go far beyond clerical inconvenience.

Consider laboratory testing. A study of more than 200 root cause analysis reports from the Veterans Health Administration revealed that 182 of 253 errors during testing cycles were attributable to patient misidentification. Inaccurate labeling, sample mix-ups, or data entered into the wrong record can lead to delayed diagnoses, repeated procedures, and serious patient harm.

These aren’t isolated cases. In fact, research found that 35% of denied claims result from inaccurate patient identification, making misidentification not only a patient safety hazard but also a systemic financial burden.

The hidden price tag of duplication

Duplicate and mismatched records are among the most visible byproducts of patient misidentification. At first glance, duplication may seem like a manageable issue — a matter of merging charts or cleaning databases. However, a closer look at the actual costs tells a different story.

A 2021 survey by Black Book Research found that duplicate records often force providers to repeat care, resulting in an average cost of $1,950 per inpatient stay and $1,700 per emergency department visit. Those numbers add up quickly. Hospitals lose an average of $17.4 million annually in denied claims directly tied to misidentification. Across the U.S. healthcare system, the problem drains an estimated $6.7 billion each year.

And the costs aren’t limited to denied claims. Identity resolution consumes vast resources inside hospitals. Research shows that organizations dedicate, on average, ten full-time employees and $1.3 million a year toward untangling identity issues.

The ripple effects extend further. Duplicate and overlay errors create inefficiencies, trigger unnecessary testing, and prolong reimbursement cycles. In one particularly stark case, the treatment of an 11-month-old girl at a pediatric center was mistakenly documented in her twin sister’s medical record, and the error required 16 staff members and three months to correct. Furthermore, the hospital incurred nearly $43,000 in unreimbursed costs because the billing system was unable to reconcile the records within the 90-day filing deadline.

The lesson is clear: duplication is not a database issue. It is a clinical, financial, and operational problem with wide-ranging implications.

The safety risks behind the numbers

For patients, misidentification is more than an inconvenience; it can mean the difference between safe, effective treatment and life-threatening mistakes.

Surveys of frontline clinicians consistently show how pervasive the problem is. In one report, 84% of respondents agreed that patient misidentification leads to adverse events, and 86% had witnessed or been aware of such errors directly.

Some of these medical errors manifest in subtle ways, such as:

• Delays in care when staff must verify or reconcile mismatched records
• Missed results when lab data is filed under the wrong chart
• Unnecessary repeat testing that exposes patients to additional risk and cost

But other consequences are more severe. Wrong-patient order rates, while rare, are extremely dangerous and have been consistently documented. One study of emergency departments found 55.7 wrong-patient medication orders per 100,000. And another study observed 79.5 wrong-patient orders per 100,000 in obstetric units – nearly double the rate found on medical-surgical floors.

The stakes are even higher in surgical settings. According to the Joint Commission, 8% of sentinel events (avoidable patient safety events) reported in 2024 involved wrong surgery errors, i.e., wrong site, wrong procedure, wrong patient, or wrong implant.

The cumulative effect is heartbreaking. Every misidentification undermines the clinician’s ability to provide safe, timely, coordinated care. Every delay or duplicate test erodes the patient’s confidence in the system. And every medical error puts patient safety at risk.

Why prevention matters more than correction

Once a patient misidentification error occurs, resolving it is labor-intensive and often incomplete. Even when staff catch and correct the error, that rework consumes valuable time and resources. More critically, corrections cannot undo patient harm that has already occurred, such as administering the wrong medication or delaying a necessary procedure.

This is why prevention, not correction, of patient misidentification must be the focus. Healthcare organizations need systems that ensure the correct patient is matched to the correct record at the very first point of contact, thereby eliminating errors before they can cascade through the continuum of care.

The role of technology in patient identification

Traditional methods of patient identification — such as names, dates of birth, and driver’s licenses — are increasingly insufficient. Common names, outdated addresses, and clerical errors all conspire to undermine their reliability. But technology offers a way to address patient identification challenges, particularly through solutions that strengthen patient matching at registration. Technologies like welcome kiosks are designed to streamline check-in processes within healthcare and clinical settings. These patient-facing, self-service solutions create another checkpoint to verify or complete essential steps of a visit.

In addition, biometric authentication has emerged as one of the most promising ways to achieve accurate patient identification. By using immutable physical characteristics like fingerprints, palm vein patterns, or facial recognition, biometric identification eliminates dependence on error-prone demographic identifiers.

How Imprivata Patient Access can help

Imprivata Patient Access facilitates accurate biometric patient identification by integrating face authentication technology directly into the registration process. Instead of relying on names or manually entered identifiers, patients are matched to their records using unique biometric markers. Furthermore, the same face authentication can be used again at additional points in a patient's care journey, ensuring the continued integrity of the patient’s medical record.

This approach delivers multiple advantages:

• Reduced duplication: By linking patients accurately at the point of entry, Imprivata Patient Access prevents the creation of new duplicates and overlays
• Improved clinician efficiency: Clinicians spend less time verifying records and more time caring for patients
• Safer care delivery: Accurate identification minimizes the risk of medication, testing, or procedural errors tied to mismatched records
• Financial protection: With fewer denied claims and faster reimbursement, hospitals can retain millions in revenue every year that would otherwise be lost

In a healthcare environment where safety, quality, and cost pressures converge, these improvements are not optional; they are essential.

Building a safer future

Preventing medical errors begins with recognizing that patient misidentification is not a peripheral problem, but rather, a core determinant of patient care management, care quality, and harm reduction. Duplicate records, denied claims, and surgical errors are not separate issues; they are symptoms of the same underlying challenge.

Healthcare leaders must invest in approaches that address patient misidentification at its roots. By adopting authentication solutions such as Imprivata Patient Access, organizations can protect patients, strengthen clinical trust, and reclaim resources currently lost to preventable errors.

The stakes are measured in both lives and dollars. But with the right strategies, healthcare systems can significantly reduce harm, so that every patient receives care that is safe, accurate, and truly their own.

Want to see Imprivata Patient Access in action? Request a demo today.