REPORTING, UNIQUE IDENTIFIER

In public health, a system that uses information such as the person’s birth date and part of their identification number (in the U.S., the social security number) to create a unique code that is reported instead of a name. It is an alternative to named reporting that provides some of the surveillance benefits of reporting by name, such as the elimination of duplicate reports, while reducing privacy concerns by avoiding use of a person’s name. This system is used with HIV testing for example in Maryland and Texas.