from inaccurate patient identification, costing the average hospital $2.5 million and the United States health care system more than $6.7 billion annually. (9) Overlaid records, caused by merging multiple patients’ data into one medical record, may result in unauthorized disclosures under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as the risk of a patient receiving treatment for another patient’s condition. (10) This Act would decrease the prevalence of patient misidentification by further promoting interoperability, thereby protecting patients and addressing high costs driven by this issue. 3. Standards and protocols to improve patient matching (a) In general Subtitle C of title XXX of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300jj–51 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 3023. Standards and protocols to improve patient matching (a) Establishing a uniform definition for patient match rate (1) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall, in consultation with health care providers, vendors of electronic health records and health information technology, patient groups, and other relevant stakeholders, develop a definition and standards for accurate and precise patient matching to track patient match rates and document improvements of patient matching over time. The Secretary shall ensure that such definition and standards for patient match rate account for— (A) duplicate records