Method
How matching works
Exclusion lists are typed by different agencies, and names are spelled in many ways. Here is how ExclusionHQ decides what is a match, and how we measured it.
Lists with a date of birth
For the LEIE (and state lists that publish dates of birth), names are matched loosely: spelling slips, nicknames, swapped first and last names, suffixes and credentials, compound surnames. The date of birth then decides: the same date is a match, a date one keystroke away is flagged to verify, and a clearly different date means a different person.
Lists without a date of birth
For SAM.gov and most state lists, names must agree exactly or as a nickname and its full form, and middle initials must not conflict. NPIs and licence numbers, where the list has them, match on their own.
Many SAM.gov entries are people the OIG list already has. When a SAM.gov entry shares a name and ZIP code with someone on the OIG list, the OIG list's date of birth decides. The Office of Personnel Management's debarments mirror OIG exclusions, so for those the same name is enough if the OIG entry is in the same state or dates from within three years.
Measured results
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Excluded people, entered with typos, nicknames and other variations (300) | 300 found |
| The same people as typed by two different agencies (2,094 pairs) | 99.67% found |
| Clean names that set off an alarm on the LEIE (three samples of 3,000 to 3,300 real provider names) | 0.03 to 0.4 per 100 |
| Clean names that set off a verify flag on SAM.gov (it has no dates of birth), on two broad samples | 0.2 to 0.4 per 100 |
| The same on SAM.gov, for a sample of the most common US surnames | 1.5 per 100 |
What no name check can catch
- A surname change, such as after marriage. Add former names to the roster and they are checked too.
- A name typed as initials only, or a different given name altogether. NPIs and licence numbers catch these for licensed staff.
Sources
Related
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