---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Adjust-existing-data-collection-processes.-Governm"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Adjust existing data collection processes."
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/adjust-existing-data-collection-processes.-governm"
summary: "Adjust existing data collection processes. Governments should advance the use of regularly collected demographic data elements for patient matching and identification such as phone numbers,mailing addresses,or email addresses. This will ensure that public health authorities have up-to-date contact information when receiving reports from laboratories,hospitals,and other testing sites."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Adjust existing data collection processes.

Adjust existing data collection processes. Governments should advance the use of regularly collected demographic data elements for patient matching and identification such as phone numbers,mailing addresses,or email addresses. This will ensure that public health authorities have up-to-date contact information when receiving reports from laboratories,hospitals,and other testing sites.

- Timeframe: 6-12 Months (long)
- Audience: Private Sector, Academia, Healthcare Providers, Government Workers
- Type: Policy/Legislative/Regulatory, Data, Partnerships
- Recommendation: [National Patient Identifiers](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/national-patient-identifiers)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. Identify standardized demographic data fields in existing systems such as phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, social security numbers or voting IDs
2. Develop guidance for laboratories, hospitals, and healthcare providers on how to more consistently capture these important fields
3. Rely on existing data structures where possible, such as those maintained by telecom providers, voting registries, or social security administrators

## Examples from around the world

1. Estonia has one of the most [highly-developed national ID-card systems](https://e-estonia.com/solutions/e-identity/id-card/) in the world, Every citizen in Estonia has an online e-health record that can be tracked, and linked to a person’s electronic ID-card. The health records are secured with KSI Blockchain technology and are used to ensure data integrity. The information is only accessible to authorized health personnel. 99% of health data, prescription information and electronic billing in healthcare are digitized. The [Electronic Health Record](https://e-estonia.com/solutions/healthcare/) is a nationwide system that integrates data from diverse healthcare providers into a common record accessible to patients and doctors as a single electronic file. The system functions as a centralized, national database that retrieves data from various providers with different systems and presents the information into a standard format via the e-patient portal.