The MATCH IT Act of 2025 aims to establish nationwide standards and protocols to improve how patients are matched to their medical records. It would create a formal process to define a Uniform Patient Match Rate, develop and integrate a minimum data set for patient matching into the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), and require corresponding updates to health IT certification criteria and Medicare interoperability programs. The bill also adds incentives for providers to improve matching accuracy, including a voluntary bonus measure in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, and creates a voluntary, anonymous data-reporting mechanism to track patient matching performance. While it sets ambitious targets (e.g., a data set intended to support high match rates like 99.9%), it explicitly states that nothing in the bill would require a 99.9% match rate. Overall, the act seeks to reduce patient misidentification, duplicated and overlaid records, and the associated costs and safety risks by standardizing definitions, data elements, and measurement methods, and by tying these practices to certification and incentive programs in federal health IT policy.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a uniform definition and standards for the patient match rate, with a process to develop, review, and update these standards every three years, and to account for duplicates, overlaid records, multiple matches, and internal mismatches.
- 2Requires development of a minimum data set for patient matching within 180 days and incorporation of that data set into the USCDI within about a year, including broad consultation with providers, EHR vendors, patient groups, and multiple federal agencies.
- 3Amends health IT certification and Medicare interoperability rules to incorporate the minimum data set and related standards, with a timeline: certification criteria within 180 days of finalizing the data set, and Medicare interoperability program requirements within 24 months.
- 4Creates voluntary incentives: CMS would establish a voluntary bonus measure in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for providers achieving an accurate patient match rate (90% or higher, or the rate defined by the Act) and allows payment adjustments for meeting this measure, while protecting against negative scoring and not publicly disclosing attestations.
- 5Establishes a voluntary, anonymous national reporting program for providers to submit patient matching accuracy data to HHS, and requires an annual review of attestation rates with potential adjustments to the rate to encourage better reporting.