Software reference guide: master patient index.

Abstract

Nowhere has the ever-increasing impact of computerization in health care been felt more strongly than in medical record departments. Computer technology has been applied successfully to virtually all of the functions carried out in medical record departments, and most medical record professionals, at one time or another, have investigated the possibility of computerizing some of the activities for which they are responsible. Identifying appropriate software for medical record applications can be a difficult and time-consuming task, however. This article, which provides information about available master patient index software, is the first in a multi-part series developed to assist medical record professionals with this task.