Melissa

Bud Walker, Chief Information Officer

Every digital interaction is an opportunity to build or lose trust. Correct, current, and verified data ensures each experience is safe, efficient, and patient-centered.

The healthcare system is rapidly shifting toward digital-first interactions. Patient portals, telehealth consultations, and mobile apps have become the new front doors to care. They are gateways that promise speed, convenience, and a more personalized experience. But as these digital touchpoints become commonplace, one fundamental question remains: can patients trust the systems behind them?

The answer depends on the integrity of the data that underpins every interaction. Clean, standardized, and secure patient data is no longer a back-office concern. It is the invisible infrastructure that makes digital healthcare possible, creating the essential foundation for patient trust.

Data Quality as Healthcare Infrastructure

Melissa’s work in data quality shows it is central to clinical care, operational efficiency, and the financial well-being of healthcare organizations. Accurate, validated, and enriched patient records prevent misidentification, reduce claim denials, and support clinicians in basing decisions on the right information.

Now, interoperability mandates are expanding, such as Project US@, the U.S. initiative to standardize patient address data. Data quality is no longer simply about efficiency. It is about building healthcare infrastructure that is safe, interoperable, and capable of sustaining the digital transformation underway across every aspect of patient care.

The New Trust Equation in Digital Healthcare

Trust has always been at the core of healthcare. But today, that trust extends beyond the exam room to every digital interaction. Patients expect their data to be accurate, protected, and accessible. These values remain priorities, whether patients are registering for a telehealth appointment, checking lab results online, or receiving a reminder through a mobile app.

Yet the reality is sobering. Some analysts peg duplicate patient records at 10% or more. Something as small as a misspelled name or outdated phone number can fracture a patient’s digital identity, leading to delays in care, misdirected results, and billing errors. Black Book research estimates that denied claims based on inaccurate patient identification cost a typical hospital $2.5 million and the U.S. healthcare system more than $6.7 billion annually. For patients, repeated requests to correct their records or re-verify their identity create frustration and erode confidence. For providers, the consequences can be much more serious: misdiagnoses, compliance failures, and lost revenue.

Trusted AI Demands Trusted Data

At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly moving from research labs into everyday healthcare. Clinicians are already using AI to interpret diagnostic images, predict re-admissions, and generate treatment recommendations. On the patient side, generative AI is being piloted to triage inquiries, answer questions, and support self-care.

The promise is enormous, but so is the risk. AI raises the stakes enormously, as systems are only as reliable as the data that feeds them. When data is incomplete or inconsistent, AI magnifies the problem, producing flawed predictions or unsafe recommendations at scale. Only clean, standardized, and verified records ensure that AI can be deployed safely and effectively.

Interoperability, or the ability of systems to seamlessly exchange and understand data, is emerging as a cornerstone of digital health. But interoperability is more than a technical issue and can only succeed if the data itself is trustworthy.

Initiatives like Project US@ are addressing one of the most persistent challenges, solving inconsistent address formats that prevent accurate patient matching. Even minor variations such as “Ave” versus “Avenue” can stop records from linking correctly, resulting in duplicates and gaps in care. By cleansing and standardizing data to uniform formats, healthcare providers comply with emerging regulations and ensure that patients are consistently and correctly identified across EHRs, billing systems, and payer platforms.

Enabling Trust at Every Digital Touchpoint

Trust must be earned at every stage of the patient journey. That means embedding data quality and verification into the digital experiences patients rely on most. From the outset of care, electronic ID verification (eIDV) and real-time validation prevent errors and fraud before patients interact digitally or mistakes enter the system. From there, standardized, enriched records make certain that patient data follows individuals across providers and systems without gaps. At every step, compliance with HIPAA, HITRUST, and GDPR frameworks safeguards sensitive personal information. Overall, verified contact data is at the heart of communications are timely, accurate, and personalized, conveying a patient-centered experience.

These activities are present throughout diverse clinical environments, such as general practice and telehealth, diagnostics and labs, hospital and acute care, mental health, and more. Every one of these touchpoints reinforces trust, or risks undermining it.

When digital healthcare is safe, efficient, and trustworthy, patients experience the benefits directly, including shorter wait times, fewer errors, and greater confidence in the system.

The Future: Data Quality as the Trust Multiplier

By investing in data cleansing, validation, and verification now, providers can ensure that every digital interaction reinforces patient trust rather than erodes it. Looking ahead, data quality will serve as a multiplier for every major investment in healthcare technology, whether patients are working with a clinician, an AI assistant, or a portal login.

Interoperability initiatives, AI deployments, and digital front-door strategies will only succeed if they are built on clean, reliable, and secure patient data. Providers that prioritize data quality as the backbone of digital healthcare will not only stay compliant with evolving mandates, but also position themselves as trusted leaders in a patient-centered, AI-powered future.