Overview
ISO/TS 22220:2011 - Health informatics - Identification of subjects of health care - specifies the data elements, structure and processes to accurately and sensitively identify individuals (subjects of care) in health care settings. The Technical Specification covers both manual and computer-assisted identification used in face‑to‑face encounters and in electronic exchanges between systems. It provides guidance on demographic data capture, identifier design, management responsibilities and computer support to improve positive patient identification and interoperability.
Key topics and requirements
- Data elements and structure: Defines the format and components for core demographic elements such as subject of care identifiers, names, dates of birth/death, sex, mother’s original family name, place of birth, address, and electronic communications.
- Identifier management: Guidance on identifier characteristics (type, issuer, geographic scope) and recommendations for the nature and form of health care identifiers.
- Name handling: Rules for capturing family names, given names, name suffixes/titles, preferred names, alternative representations and conditional use.
- Biometric and linkage: Treatment of biometric identifiers and subject‑of‑care linkage identifiers and relationships to support record linking across systems.
- Procedures and governance: Recommendations for organizational responsibility, training, business processes, and manual vs. computerized procedures for identification.
- Support for interoperability: Annexes covering messaging, data matching, master patient index (MPI) implementation guidance, and searching best practices to support system-to-system communication.
- Quality and safety focus: Emphasis on reducing duplicates, improving matching confidence and protecting patient safety during information exchange.
Applications
ISO/TS 22220:2011 is practical for:
- Designing and implementing electronic health record (EHR) registration screens and demographic data models.
- Building or improving a Master Patient Index (MPI) or enterprise identity management service.
- Specifying data payloads for health information exchange and messaging between clinical systems.
- Establishing organizational policies, training and governance for positive patient identification.
- Implementing data matching and record linkage workflows that minimize duplicate records and wrong‑patient events.
Who should use this standard
- Health IT architects and EHR vendors
- Hospitals, clinics and health information exchanges
- Data governance, patient identification and master‑index teams
- National/regional health agencies and policy makers
- Developers of biometric and patient-matching solutions
Related standards
ISO/TS 22220:2011 was produced by ISO/TC 215 (Health informatics) and should be used alongside other health informatics and interoperability standards and local regulatory requirements when implementing patient identification, data exchange and identity governance in health systems.
