Which of the following actions best reduces fragmentation when a patient has multiple admissions under a unit numbering system?

• A. Consolidate under a single MRN
• B. Create a new MRN for each admission
• C. Archive older records separately
• D. Delete duplicate entries

Answer: (A)

Maintaining one continuous patient identifier across all encounters is the best way to reduce fragmentation. When a patient has multiple admissions under a unit numbering system, each admission can end up linked to a different identifier, creating separate records that don’t easily connect. Consolidating everything under a single MRN ties all visit data, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes to one patient identity, giving a complete, longitudinal view of the patient’s history. This improves care continuity, ensures more accurate billing, and supports better data quality and auditing.

Choosing to generate a new MRN for every admission would keep creating separate records for the same person, which worsens fragmentation and makes it harder to reconstruct the full medical history. Archiving older records separately doesn’t solve the underlying issue of multiple identifiers; it hides part of the history and can complicate retrieval and care coordination. Deleting duplicates risks data loss and undermines the integrity and legality of the medical record.

So, consolidating under a single MRN most effectively reduces fragmentation.