Acceptable ID Discrepancies

Single letter discrepancy: Johnson vs. Johmson

Single letter transposition: Alexander vs. Alexandre

Single letter omission: Schultz vs. Shultz

Single letter addition: Miller vs. Mialler

Incorrect letters in one version: Diller vs. Ditter

Names reversed: Russell Evan vs. Evan Russell

One version of the name has a middle initial while the other does not: John E Smith vs. John Smith

First name is formal on one document, but a variation is used on another document: Michael Jones vs. Mike Jones

Maiden name as a middle name on one document, while given middle name is used on another document: Mary Elizabeth Smith vs. Mary Jones Smith

All appendages to names will be ignored: Jr., Sr., II

Substitutions for either the first or last name are not permitted: Smith to Jones or Smith to Smith-Jones or John to James

Legal name changes must be supported by a marriage certificate, divorce decree or legal name change document

One version of the name has middle initial while the other has the full middle name: Karen A. Scott vs. Karen Ann Scott

Copyright © 2008 by the American Health Information Management Association. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, reprinted, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the association.

All contents, including images and graphics, on this Web site are copyrighted by AHIMA unless otherwise noted. You must obtain permission to reproduce any information, graphics, or images from this site. Permission must also be obtained to link to any of AHIMA's Web sites. To request permission, fill out the AHIMA Permissions Request or contact permissions@ahima.org.