Improving Clinical Effectiveness Research (CER)/Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Methods for Analyzing Linked Data Sources in the Absence of Unique Identifiers [Methods Study], United States, 2011-2022

Researchers often combine data from different sources, such as insurance claims and health records, to get a better picture of patients' health and use of health care. Researchers use unique identifiers, like Social Security numbers, to connect patient records and make them more complete. But sometimes this approach doesn't work well, especially when records don't have much personal information. Having limited personal data can lead to errors when linking records.
In this study, the research team created new methods to link data sets with limited personal information. Then they compared the new methods with existing ones. They also applied the new methods with real patient data.