Most physician information is inconsistent across payer directories, a study published in JAMA found.
Researchers examined the directories of five major payers, comparing entries for the same physician across directories. In a sample representing 40 percent of practicing physicians in the U.S., 81 percent of entries were inconsistent across multiple directories.
The most common source of errors, the study's authors wrote, was group practices reporting all physicians at all locations, regardless of the individual physican's location.
Entries for practices with just one address were more likely to be accurate, the study found.
The study, published March 14, was authored by researchers at the University of Colorado Medical School in Aurora and HiLabs, a healthcare data analytics company.
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