Biometrics in Healthcare
for Accurate Patient Identification
Patient Identity Management – Operational Efficiency
The adoption of biometric technology enables healthcare organizations to solve the patient identification challenge effectively as patients can be identified accurately during each encounter with the help of their unique biometric trait.
The real-time identification of patients reduces duplicate record keeping and related costs. Only authorized medical personnel can access patient records thus eliminating medical identity theft and other healthcare insurance related thefts.
Identify Accurately – Protect Patient Privacy
Integrating a biometric solution helps a healthcare system to realize:
- Eliminate duplicate medical record keeping
- Authenticate patients on each visit reliably
- Provide instant and secured access to patient records
- Accurately connect patients with their medical records
- Maintain data integrity of patient records
How biometrics-based systems work in healthcare
The adoption of biometrics in the healthcare sector enables the right patient to be linked to the right medical record. This is extremely important to avoid giving the wrong medicine or medical treatment to the wrong patient and to avoid mix-ups of patient records. Fingerprint biometrics prevents sharing of ID cards between medical personnel, promotes authorised logons to electronic healthcare systems in hospitals and reduces the chances of medical identity theft.
A simple and fast process enrols the patient’s fingerprint into the healthcare system. A fingerprint scanner captures a digital image of the fingerprint and coverts it into a digital template. The patient’s medical record along with his fingerprint template is then stored on a smart card. The patient is accurately and quickly verified with a simple fingerprint swipe for any subsequent visit to the healthcare facility. Thus biometrics protects patient data, eliminates duplicate record creation and ensures high standards of data integrity. The ability to correctly authenticate an unconscious or impaired patient increases with the integration of fingerprint recognition in healthcare systems. Fingerprint-based biometric solutions are used at various points within the hospital – medication dispensing, pre-op and outpatient services.
Benefits of biometric-based identification
The biggest benefit of deploying biometrics in healthcare systems are accurate patient identification and reduction of healthcare frauds. Incorrectly identifying patients can cause irreversible damage and could literally mean the difference between life and death. Biometrics enables physicians to access patient data easily and also ensures proper record keeping and updating of patient medical records. It helps medical practitioners to provide timely and quality care to patients thus improving patient satisfaction.
Traditional methods such as passwords or smart cards that are used to manage security infrastructure in healthcare organisations are vulnerable to being stolen or shared. Medical personnel would stay logged in to healthcare systems just to avoid entering a cumbersome password. Thus it would be difficult to track the personnel who accessed the system. A biometric fingerprint system eliminates passwords and swipe cards. It ensures authorized access to secure patient information and creates an audit trail for comparison against medical records accessed.
What our clients say
Why you should choose biometrics based solution
Data integrity of patient records
A fingerprint is an inherent and unique characteristic of individual and is difficult to forge or steal. Thus a fingerprint biometric accurately links the right patient to the right record and provides high standards of data integrity. This allows quick access to interoperable healthcare databases and efficient services. Data integrity is crucial to secured exchange of patient data and biometrics helps to achieve it.
Safe, secure and efficient healthcare
Biometrics enables record-tracking each time a patient’s record is accessed. Thus it promotes compliance to government regulations and creates an irrefutable audit trail. The scanning of a patient’s fingerprints prior to dispensing services or medical care ensures that the patient receives their own and not somebody else’s prescription. In emergency cases, fingerprint recognition can facilitate speedy admission and access to previous medical records of the patient.
Privacy and security
Healthcare organizations can accomplish the critical and challenging task of safeguarding patient privacy and information while at the same time ensuring the security of healthcare facility, computers and pharmaceuticals. Medical personnel scan their fingerprint to log onto a computer to access patient’s medical data. This ensures that unauthorized persons cannot access confidential information of patients which reduces medical identity theft.
Improved workflow in healthcare systems
Traditionally passwords, PINs or swipe cards were used to regulate access to medical health records. These methods were cumbersome and unable to provide efficient security against fraudulent attacks and medical identity theft. There were also costs associated with maintaining forgotten passwords and replacing stolen cards. A fingerprint biometric system completely eliminates passwords and cards. The patient’s fingerprint is now his password and fraudsters cannot replicate it. The wide availability of fingerprint readers also makes it a cost-effective solution.
Facilitates easy access
Medical professionals can quickly log in with their fingerprint and do not need to remember passwords or carry cards. Patients can scan their fingerprints at the healthcare provider and receive instant medical services. As physicians are always hard pressed for time, rapid identification with fingerprint technology ensures proper care to patients in times of emergency.
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