Abstract: Understanding a patient’s family unit could offer opportunities for improved care delivery, coordination, and research. This study developed a matching algorithm to identify family units and operationalized it via a web-based application. The final algorithm with the best performance (100% sensitivity and specificity) employed a combination of deterministic and probabilistic methods matching on individual address components, guarantor name, and phone number. Further research with larger sample sizes is needed to validate and refine the algorithm.

Describe the new knowledge and additional skills the participant will gain after attending your presentation.: This session extends the common informatics practice of patient matching to family matching. Attendees should leave with an understanding of how to build their own family matching algorithm as well as a thoughtful consideration of the many clinical and administrative use cases for leveraging this knowledge.

Authors:

Colby Uptegraft (Presenter)
Boston Children's Hospital

Alyna Chien, Boston Children's Hospital
Eli Sprecher, Boston Children's Hospital