How does Care Everywhere handle de-duplication of patient records across exchanges?

• A. By deleting all duplicates without review
• B. By exporting duplicates to a separate file
• C. By applying patient matching algorithms, linking duplicates, and allowing data stewardship review to merge records as canonical.
• D. By random selection of one of the records

Answer: (C)

Care Everywhere resolves patient identity across exchanges by first using patient matching algorithms to identify potential duplicates. When duplicates are found, the system links those records so they are treated as the same person. A data stewardship workflow then reviews the linked records and merges them into a single canonical patient record, preserving data provenance and providing a unified view across exchanges. This approach avoids data loss, maintains an auditable history, and results in one authoritative record for the patient.

The other approaches would either erase data without review, move duplicates elsewhere, or randomly pick one record—none of which provide a controlled, traceable consolidation.