A medical administrative assistant is registering a new patient. Which of the following actions should the assistant take to prevent the creation of a duplicate record in the EHR

While verifying insurance is important for billing purposes, it does not aid in identifying whether a duplicate record exists in the EHR. Insurance details may vary across different records and do not provide a reliable way to confirm patient identity or check for existing entries in the system.

Confirming the appointment time is a necessary task for scheduling, but it does not contribute to preventing duplicate records. Appointment times can be shared among different patients and do not serve as unique identifiers for searching existing records in the EHR.

Searching by phone number can be helpful, but it is less reliable than using both first and last names. Patients may have multiple contact numbers or change their phone numbers, leading to potential misses of existing records. Using both names is a more comprehensive method for ensuring accuracy in patient registration.