Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identification (VUHID)

The goal of the Voluntary Universal Healthcare Identification (VUHID) project is to make unique healthcare identifiers available to any patient who uses the services of a regional health information organization (RHIO) or health information exchange (HIE) to:

•   enable error-free linkages of clinical information across provider sites;
•   enhance patient control over the privacy their information;
•   improve the quality of medical care and the efficiency of its delivery;
•   reduce medical errors related to mis-identification of patients;
•   decrease incidents of healthcare-related identity theft;
•   and help control healthcare costs as a result of these impacts.

VUHID is based on two ASTM International E 31 standards (ASTM VUHID Standard E2553 & ASTM VUHID Standard E1714) to make globally-unique healthcare identifiers available to any person who wishes to have one. Global Patient Identifiers, Inc. (GPII), a non-profit organization, was formed specifically to develop and deploy the VUHID system.