Patient
(0010,0020)
Patient ID
Keyword: PatientID
Primary identifier for the patient. Typically the Medical Record Number (MRN) or NHS Number. Case-sensitive in DICOM matching.
Tag Attributes
- Tag ID
- (0010,0020)
- Compact
- 00100020
- Keyword
- PatientID
- VR
- LO — Long String
- VM
- 1
- Retired
- No
Module(s)
Patient Module
Engineering Notes
The most critical demographic tag. All PACS, RIS, and EMR patient matching depends on this. Inconsistency (leading zeros, case differences, system prefixes) causes patient misidentification risks.
Troubleshooting
Patient duplicates in PACS almost always trace to Patient ID inconsistency. Standardise ID format across all feeding systems. Implement an enterprise patient index (MPI) for multi-site deployments.