Iris Biometrics for Patient Identification in Healthcare Spreading Across the Globe

John TraderApril 29, 20132 Replies

Using iris biometrics for patient identification is helping healthcare to eliminate medical identity theft and stop patient fraud.

Healthcare facilities all across the world are increasingly seeing the benefits of using iris biometrics for patient identification

In case you missed it, there was an excellent article written by Kristen Hallam from Bloomberg News about the increased use of iris biometrics for patient identification in healthcare to help fight medical identity theft, eliminate duplicate medical records, raise patient safety levels, reduce data breaches, and prevent fraud. In the article, Ms. Hallam points out that healthcare providers all around the world are increasingly discovering the benefits of using iris biometrics for patient identification as they search for technology solutions to curb the patient safety perils of fraud, identity theft, and data breaches.

Among the key findings in the article:

Colorado-based Acuity Market Intelligence forecast predicts that the use of biometrics in healthcare will increase about 20 percent a year to almost $11 billion by 2017
Iris is the preferred biometric patient identification modality over fingerprint and other hardware because it does not require physical contact by a patient thus supporting hospital infection control initiatives
Biometrics for patient identification do not require a patient to physically carry any ID card or documentation with them when visiting a medical facility — this prevents swapping and sharing of medical insurance
Data breaches and subsequent medical identity theft are increasing in healthcare — using biometrics for patient identification helps to lower that possibility and help keep patients safe
Iris biometric patient identification systems are less expensive than you may think — technology refinements have helped to lower the cost
Biometrics is not a foolproof way to eliminate medical identity theft — data breaches committed by employees are still a risk
The U.K. has a growing phenomenon called “shame-based theft in which a patient who doesn’t want his illness to be known seeks care using someone else’s identity
The iris has so many features that it’s 100,000 times more resistant to false identification than face recognition
Iris biometrics patient identification systems do not use lasers to scan an eye — instead a high powered digital camera that takes digital pictures of the iris using low-power light-emitting diodes, known as LED lighting is used to capture a photo

A lot of great information about the rising prominence of iris biometrics for patient identification appears in the article including interviews, quotes, and sound bites from the World Privacy Forum, Aoptix, and our own CEO/Founder Mizan Rahman. Special thanks to Kristen Hallam for taking the time to research and write such a informative article!

What other advantages can using biometrics for patient identification bring to the healthcare market?

The Rise of Photographs for Accurate Patient Identification

John TraderApril 18, 2013Leave a Reply

Patient photos as part of a multi-factor patient identification strategy can significantly reduce errors and increase patient safety.

Researchers have discovered that a patient photo with their x-ray drastically reduces identification errors.

Interesting joint research study out of Emory University and Georgia Tech that sheds light on the increasing importance of using a patient’s photograph to help establish more accurate identification and reduce errors. Researchers experimented with including patient photos on their X-rays and discovered that this led to a five-fold decrease in patient identification errors.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Researchers asked 10 radiologists to look at 20 pairs of X-ray images, with and without patient photos. There were two to four mismatched pairs in each set of 20 pairs. Without patient photos, the error detection rate was 13 percent; the rate improved to 64 percent when photos were included.

Some of the radiologists ignored the photos, however, because they thought the objective of the experiment was to determine if they would be distracted by photos.

The researchers then conducted another test with five radiologists who were told to use the photos. The error detection rate rose to 94 percent, according to the study, which is scheduled for Monday presentation at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Washington, D.C.”

Using photos as a means to identify patients or as part of a multi-factor authentication identification process is rising within the healthcare market to help increase patient safety, prevent duplicate medical records and overlays, and eliminate patient fraud like medical identity theft at the point of service. CIOs, patient access managers, revenue cycle managers, IT Directors, and others closely tied into healthcare’s patient identification system infrastructure are starting to see the value to invest in a patient identification software solution that offers multi-factor authentication like iris and facial recognition.

The flexibility of using multi-factor patient identification systems allows patient registration staff and clinicians the ability to instantly verify a patient’s identity at each touch point throughout the care continuum from initial registration to pre-op, medication distribution, radiological services, pathology, and more.

Patient identification strategies are changing in healthcare and more facilities are recognizing the value of incorporating a multi-factor patient identification system to help reduce errors, keep patients safe, and lower the overall cost of care.

What are some ways that your medical facility is using patients photos or multi-factor authentication to increase patient safety?

New Look, Same Great Content

John TraderApril 9, 2013Leave a Reply

Our blog has a brand new look but same great information on biometric identification technology.

You may have noticed that our blog got a little face lift. We recently upgraded our design and format to help highlight our educational videos and social media platforms so you can continue to receive the latest and greatest news on biometric identification technology and stay engaged with us. We like staying engaged with you too!

The world of biometric identification technology is changing fast. Just today, it was announced that AOptix has released an iPhone with the capability to scan an iris, face, fingerprint, or voice. We could certainly feel something was about to happen in the mobile world with biometric identification when Apple recently purchased Authentec, purportedly to gain access to their tools for fingerprint sensors and identity management that work with NFC, and use of its patent portfolio. The news of the new iPhone has been buzzing around the Twittersphere and other social media platforms, many who are curious about how the technology works, others who seem vehemently opposed to it, and yet more who are excited to try it out for themselves.

Biometric identification is changing the world we live in. As we have discussed on this blog before, once relegated top secret government deployments and Hollywood movie screens, biometrics has made the leap to commercial applications increasing security and convenience and demonstrating strong return on investment. Hold on to your hats and brace yourself for the next 5 – 10 years when the biometric identification industry is expected to blossom and see its full potential. You can’t deny that the technology is here to stay and constantly evolving but not without its kinks and areas for improvement.

It’s an exciting time to be in the biometric identification industry, and we are happy you are here to join us on the journey.

U.S. Vision Adopts RightPunch™ Biometric Time Clock to Increase Workforce Optimization

John TraderFebruary 26, 2013Leave a Reply

A biometric time clock for labor tracking, preventing time theft and lowering costs.

RightPunch™ PC-based biometric time clock

We are happy to announce today that U.S. Vision has adopted our RightPunch™ PC-based biometric time clock to help increase workforce optimization by; eliminating buddy punching, strengthening labor tracking, establishing a concrete audit trail, and reducing payroll inflation. Seamlessly interfacing with U.S. Vision’s existing Kronos timekeeping software and supporting multiple languages, RightPunch™ allows employees to clock in and out through fingerprint biometric authentication to help optimize labor tacking performance. The biometric time clock also supports offline punch storage and schedule enforcement in addition to alterate punch submission tools like personal identification number (PIN) entry.

RightPunch™ is now installed on servers at each of U.S. Vision’s over 700 locations throughout the country which connect to the M2SYS Central Data Management System (CDMS) that synchronizes data like biometric templates and employee schedules between site locations. All an employee has to do is scan their finger on a biometric hardware device and their timestamp is recorded then automatically reconciled with Kronos’ Workforce Timekeeper software.

U.S. Vision CFO Carmen Nepa is pleased with the decision to invest in the RigthPunch™ PC-based biometric time clock to help boost employee accountability and productivity. Reducing payroll inflation to achieve lower labor costs is an important initiative for U.S. Vision. The afforable, flexible PC-based RightPunch™ biometric time clock fits perfectly in the U.S. Vision strategy to ensure compliance with labor tracking laws.

For a link to the full release, please visit the M2SYS Technology press room by clicking here.

Biometric Modalities Evolving at a Fast Pace

John TraderJanuary 24, 2013Leave a Reply

As the biometric identification industry continues to evolve, more biometric modalities continue to spring up. The latest is the use of MRI images to identify people.

Could you one day be identified by your knees or internal organs?

You may not have noticed, but the biometrics identification industry is growing. Fast. As a fervid biometrics news curator, I am particularly in tune with stories about biometric identification technology deployments across the globe and new biometric modalities that could potentially have an impact on the market. A story came across the wire yesterday that caught my attention which I wanted to share.

Computer scientist Lior Shamir has developed a technology that uses MRI scanners to scan the legs of people as they pass by. He published a research paper in the International Journal of Biometrics detailing the results of his research. Studying the use of knee MRI images of 2,686 different patients as a form of biometric identification, analyzed using the wndchrm image classification scheme, he concluded that:

“Experimental results show that the rank-10 identification accuracy using the MRI knee images is ~93% for a dataset of 100 individuals, and ~45% for the entire dataset of 2,686 persons.”

Although that statistic drops to 45% for the entire dataset of 2,686 people, Mr. Shamir has proven that internal organs imaged with biomedical imaging devices can also allow biometric identification of individuals.

It should be noted that Mr. Shamir also pointed out in his research paper that since MRI images “are used for the purpose of imaging internal parts of the body, this approach of biometric identification can potentially offer high resistance to deception,” meaning that the likelihood of this potential modality reaching the point where it could be feasibly deployed is highly unlikely.

What should be noted though is that researchers and scientists are increasingly uncovering new and fresh ways to capture and identify people through their biometric information. Just in the last few years, we have seen advances in new biometric modalities like gait, gesture, heartbeat, ears, body odor, even using the soles of your shoes for identification (Wired magazine actually published an article today entitled - 11 Body Parts Defense Researchers Will Use to Track You that’s worth a read). Computer game manufacturers have already introduced innovative new biometric features to their gaming consoles that track and capture end user nuances as part of the interactive experience. Even biometric law enforcement applications continue to evolve, demonstrated by the recent announcement of “biometric handcuffs” that can automatically deliver shocks and injections to unruly detainees.

Innovation and creativity continue to be hallmarks of the biometrics research and development community and we can expect to see new and different biometric modalities sprouting up in the biometric industry as we move ahead through 2013 and beyond. What is important to remember is that whether you support the biometrics industry or are opposed to it, clearly biometric identification will play a part in your life (if it has not already) in the years to come. The question is, which biometric modality will it be?

What other types of biometric identification modalities do you expect to see in the future? Please share them with us in the comments.