Duplicate Clients and Care Recipients Records

Unique Identifier
last 4-digit of SSN or 4-digit assigned number / full last name / date of birth

Users are finding duplicate client records in the new ARMS system.  There are several reason a client record may be duplicated in the new ARMS system.

Revised... To prevent duplication, it is recommended that users search for any new client or care recipient before Registering them in ARMS.  If you are finding duplicates, verify the unique identifiers for these clients and mark the incorrect client Inactive on the Provider Client List, select Other and enter duplicate client and the date the status changed. (See example below)

Remove the units (zero out) from the incorrect client service total records and transfer those units to the correct service total record.  Then remove the service total record from your SRW if you chose.  You may want to print the screen before making any changes.  Also review the screen before clicking Update on the Service Total SRW.

New clients added to ARMS that exist in old ARMS with an assigned SSN (last 4-digits) are now being registered with the client correct last 4-digits of the SSN. 

In the above example, note bottom two clients (Stegall).  It appears that this client was registered with their true SSN and also with an assigned SSN in the old ARMS.  Both client records migrated because their unique identifier is different.  Below are the two client records that migrated to the new ARMS system where the last 4-digits of SSN was picked up.

Users are not checking to see if clients are already registered before adding a new client with some variations in date of birth, last name spelled different and/or last 4-digits are slightly different than an existing client.  In this example, note the duplication of same client.  One client record migrated from the old ARMS with a registration date of December 21, 2001 and the same client was registered in the new ARMS on October 2, 2007 with a completely different date of birth.  A simple client search would have prevented this duplication or prompted the user to verify the date of birth of the client to ensure that it was not a duplicate client.

The unique identifier may be off only by one letter or one digit, the ARMS system cannot make a match, the user should take the time to ensure that client records are not being duplicated.  It may take extra time, but it will be worth it for the integrity of the ARMS data for reporting purposes.

New features have been added to help prevent duplicate records from being added to the Provider Client List.  When a user now clicks Add New Client, they are given two options:  Search for existing client or Register New Client. It is recommended that users do a search to verify that the client is not already registered in ARMS under an assigned last 4-digit of SSN, check date of birth and names for similarities.  Client address, sex, and race can be used to help determine if client already exists in ARMS, but with slight variations than the new client you have to register.

If the user select Add Client on the Provider Client List screen, clicking Search for existing client will allow the user to key search criteria.  If a match is found, the user can view a list of clients.  If the client is already assigned to this provider, it will be highlighted and the user can only Update Services for that client already assigned to the Provider.  See image below:

In the example below, the reason these first two clients in this list were both migrated to the new ARMS was because they have different SSN numbers, but it is obvious that this is the same client.  In looking at the SSN the second number is different.  In the old ARMS, the full SSN was used as the unique identifier making this appear to be two separate clients.  Once migrated to the new ARMS, the first 5 digits were dropped.  Each client was added to the specified Provider Client List in the new ARMS.

To prevent duplication, it is recommended that users search for any new client or care recipient before Registering them in ARMS.  If you are finding duplicates, verify the unique identifiers for these clients and mark the incorrect client Inactive on the Provider Client List, select Other and enter duplicate client.  Remove the units (zero out) from the incorrect client service total records and transfer those units to the correct service total record.  Then remove the service total record from your SRW if you chose.  You may want to print the screen before making any changes.  Also review the screen before clicking Update on the Service Total SRW.

If you need additional information or clarification, please e-mail Linda Owens.

Revised January 8, 2008

Posted November 9, 2007