Accreditation practice pointer: patient identifiers

C6.1 A Our practice uses a minimum of three approved patient identifiers to correctly identify patients and their clinical information.

RACGP Standards for general practice.

General practice must use a minimum of three approved patient identifiers to confirm a patient’s identity each time they attend or call the practice.

Approved patient identifiers are items of information that are accepted for use to identify a patient:

  • Name (family and given names together are one identifier)

  • Date of birth

  • Gender (as identified by the patient)

  • Address

  • Patient health record number where it exists

  • Individual Healthcare Identifier

A Medicare number is not an approved patient identifier. This is because some patients might not have a Medicare number and others may share numbers if they belong to the same family. 

Instances the three approved patient identifiers are necessary are when:

  • a patient makes an appointment

  • a patient presents to the practice for their appointment

  • you communicate with a patient over the telephone or electronically

  • a patient telephones asking for a repeat of a prescription

  • a patient sees more than one practitioner during a visit

  • a patient record is accessed

  • you collect and manage information (eg scanned documents, X-rays) about a patient.

General practice can ensure the Criterion is met by:

  • keeping a prompt sheet at reception to remind reception staff to ask for approved patient identifiers

  • explaining to patients the reasons for identifying them at each visit (eg safety reasons, keeping accurate patient details), particularly if you have a small practice or have patients well known to the practice team members

  • maintaining a policy of acknowledging, recording and implementing the names and pronouns used by each patient.

Margot Schoonmaker