ADT/ACK - Merge account - patient account number

An A41 event is used to signal a merge of records for an account that was incorrectly filed under two different account numbers. The "incorrect source patient account number" identified in the MRG segment (MRG-3 - Prior Patient Account Number) is to be merged with the "correct target patient account number" identified in the PID segment (PID-18 - Patient Account Number). The "incorrect source patient account number" would then logically never be referenced in future transactions. It is noted that some systems may still physically keep this "incorrect identifier" for audit trail purposes or other reasons associated with database index implementation requirements.