M2SYS Blog On Biometric Technology

Tweet chat on patient ID in healthcare

It comes as no surprise that accurate patient identification has been number one on the list of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’ (JCAHO) National Patient Safety Goals since 2003. Medical identity fraud and inaccurate patient identification continue to be a growing problem in healthcare, causing a precipitous drop in the quality of patient care along with rising liability and litigation costs. The problem of duplicate medical records alone due to inadequate and outdated patient identification systems is frustrating healthcare through medication errors, transfusion errors, testing errors, wrong patient procedures and the discharge of infants to the wrong families.

The call to adopt digitization of medical records and stringent patient identification standards through the use of new technologies have recently increased by authorities that provide leadership on global health matters such as the World Health Organization. So how is the healthcare industry faring to adopt more accurate patient identification procedures? Is medical identity theft still a growing concern within the healthcare industry? What can be done to prevent duplicate medical records? What other issues are at stake?

Join us on Thursday November 3rd from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. EST for a tweet chat about patient identification in healthcare. Our guest will be Jim St. Clair (@jstclair1), Senior Director, Interoperability and Standards at the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) who will be sharing his knowledge and answering questions on the topic. We will also ask Jim about his thoughts on using biometric technology for patient identification.

Just in case you are interested in participating, but are new to Tweet chats, please read this post which outlines the instructions and procedures. We hope that you will join us for the discussion, and please spread the word among your colleagues and friends.

Do you have any questions that you would like to ask Jim? Please send them to: john@m2sys.com or come prepared with your questions, comments and feedback next Thursday!

M2SYS White Papers

Recently, we launched a new page on our Web site for current and future M2SYS biometric research White papers written on a variety of topics. Separated by tabs that categorize the White papers based on the vertical markets to which they apply, currently you can find the following research:

1. Patient Misidentification in Healthcare  - “Eliminate Patient Fraud and Increase Patient Identification Accuracy with Vascular and Iris Recognition Biometric Identification Technology” – this White paper examines the growing concern of medical identity theft and patient misidentification, measuring the negative impact they have on patient care and how healthcare facilities can use palm vein and iris recognition biometric technology to correctly identify patients.

2. Retail Point of Sale (POS)/Workforce Mangement – “Eliminating Time Theft and Increasing Profits with PC-Based Biometrics” – This White paper details the effect that time theft, manual labor tracking methods, and non-compliance can have on employee productivity and the corporate bottom line. It then studies how PC-based biometric identification technology is a smart solution to halting these productivity and profit killers and why companies should consider incorporating biometrics for employee identification.

3. U.S. Biometrics – “The Perception of Biometrics in the United States” (co-written by Ravi Das from biometricnews.net) – Biometric technology is quickly being adopted across the globe for a multitude of purposes ranging from border security to voter registration to benefit entitlement parity. Despite the wide scale adoption of biometrics in other countries, it has been slow to catch on here in the U.S. This White paper studies theories as to why biometrics has not been embraced in this country, fear about how biometrics affects privacy and civil liberties, what steps biometric vendors can take to educate the public on the technology and a conclusion explaining what can possibly be done to increase U.S. adoption rates.

4. Global Biometrics - (White paper forthcoming) – Due to be released within the next month, this White paper will focus on future applications and growth areas of biometric technology as seen through the eyes of biometric vendors from all over the world.

We hope that you enjoy our collection of White papers and welcome any comments or feedback on the content. Have a suggestion for a White paper topic? Let us know in the comments section below.

Checking in at the Dr's Office

Healthcare professionals are catching on to the value of using biometrics for patient identification. As cases of medical identity theft increase and liability mounts, the industry has been turning to biometrics to ensure 100% patient identification accuracy, safeguard patient health, eliminate medical identity fraud, and cut costs. In addition, biometric patient identification systems instantly interface with any electronic health record or patient management software which means they can be up and running quickly without any database or code-level integration needed. Seamless interface capability helps smooth the transition from a more traditional means of identifying patients (name, DOB, social security number) to biometrics, a more modernized method that uses physiological characteristics of the human body to identify a patient.

Before you consider investing in a biometric patient identification system, it is important to understand the two fundamental differences in how back end biometric engins/systems/algorithms authenticate an individual:

a) 1:1 (one to one) verification – This method of authentication answers the question: Am I who I claim to be? and involves confirming or denying a person’s claimed identity. For example, when used in patient identification a patient would present a form of identification (driver’s license, social security card, insurance card, etc.) and after their record is pulled up they would then scan their biometric information to verify that they are the same person their identification states they are.

b) 1:N (one to many) identification – This method of authentication answers the question: Who am I? and the system must identify a person from a list of users in the template database. For example, when used in patient identification a patient would scan their biometric information first which immediately pulls up the patient record associated with their template before presenting any other form of identification.

Why is it important to understand the differences between biometric verification and biometric identification when it comes to eliminating medical identity fraud and duplicate records? Relying on 1:1 verification can create problems during patient registration. Since medical records are usually associated with a person’s date of birth or social security number, 1:1 verification creates the possibility of a person using a forged, fake or stolen ID to link their biometric identity to another patient’s record. Furthermore, since ID’s or insurance cards can be forged repeatedly then it’s possible that multiple medical records could exist for the same person all using the same biometric template. 1:1 verification would not catch this at registration.

The key to eliminating patient fraud is to catch a perpetrator at the time of registration before services are rendered. 1:N matching allows a healthcare facility to prevent medical identity theft by instantly performing a dedupe of their records before the record is created.

Understanding how biometric patient identification works and the functionality of the backend system is essential to working towards the ultimate goal of improving patient care. Eliminating patient identify fraud and lowering medical liability litigation costs  is key for the healthcare industry to maintain economic vitality to continue the fight of safeguarding our health.

Despite the numerous benefits that biometric technology brings to the table for the many vertical markets that it serves, there are some reasons to NOT use biometric identification technology.  May seem strange for a biometric software developer to be listing reasons to not use their technology, but bear with us as we explain some reasons that biometrics just may not be the technology that can help your business.

Reason #1 – You do not understand how biometric technology works.

We will be the first to tell you that if you have not done your homework and proper due diligence on how biometric technology works and which software and hardware application is best suited for your business then it probably is not a good idea to use it.  As with any investment in technology, businesses should spend time researching options, asking questions, reading case studies, engaging with others that currently use the technology, and evaluating long term return on investment (ROI) potential.

After completing adequate research, you may find that biometrics is not best suited for your needs.  However most businesses discover that when weighed against the alternatives, biometrics is usually the most efficient and secure identification technology that offers the highest potential for maximum ROI.

Reason #2 – You think that biometric technology is a passing fad that will soon be replaced with yet another more technologically advanced identification.

The simple truth is that biometric identification technology is here to stay and will be around for a long time to come.  Whether it’s for time and attendance/workforce management, healthcare, banking, membership management, public safety or point of sale biometrics has continued to spread throughout many vertical markets and is increasingly recognized for the many benefits that it brings to businesses and governments that use it.  Furthermore, the global biometric market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23% through 2013.

Biometrics is the only identification technology that can verify with near absolute certainty the identity of an individual.  As word spreads of the tangible benefits that biometrics offers and the truth about how the technology works becomes more understood, expect to see more deployments for businesses that wish to invest in a technology that establishes the efficiencies that they expect.

Reason #3 – You like losing 2 – 4% of your payroll each year to payroll error rates and time theft.

Employee time theft costs U.S. employers hundreds of billions of dollars per year and among the most egregious of time theft practices is buddy punching.  Buddy punching is a preventable facet of time theft and biometric technology is the perfect solution, eliminating the ability of employees to clock in and out for a colleague and significantly increasing productivity as a result.  Plus, biometrics is more secure and efficient than ID cards or personal identification numbers (PINs), helps to save the environment and ensures compliance with labor tracking laws.

Reason #4 – Security and safety of your employees is of no concern.

One of the major problems that barcode ID cards and PINs present is that they can be swapped, shared or stolen.  For example, barcode cards can be stolen and used for unauthorized access to secure areas of a business, jeopardizing the safety of other employees and acting as a catalyst for theft of merchandise, information or other assets.  Biometrics relies on human physiological characteristics for identification which can’t be swapped, shared or stolen creating a more safe and secure environment for you and for your employees.

Reason #5 – You don’t really care if anyone is held accountable for anything at anytime.

Of the many benefits that biometric identification technology offers its end users, establishing accountability is perhaps one of the top reasons to use it.  If the identification system you are using is archaic, subject to malfeasance and corrupting your staff by tempting them to abuse it for their own gain then why not consider incorporating a system that removes these inadequacies?  Biometric technology also ensures that there is a clear audit trail, thereby encouraging responsibility from your employees to act ethically and be accountable for their actions.

Take time to think about some of the problems in your business that biometric technology can solve.  Hopefully this post brought a few reasons to mind on how biometrics can help you.

What are some other reasons that biometrics would not be a benefit to your business?  Be creative…

The Story

We ran across a news story this morning about yet another healthcare facility choosing palm vein biometric technology for accurate patient identification.  Here is a link to the story:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7508629.html

How Does Palm Vein Biometrics Work?

If you have been keeping up with the latest advancements in biometrics recently, then you are probably familiar with palm vein technology.  However, if palm vein biometrics is new to you and you aren’t quite sure what it is, allow us a second to explain how the technology works:

Unlike fingerprint biometric technology which relies on the integrity of the skin on the fingertip for accurate identification and can be susceptible to age, environment, cuts, scrapes, bruises, scars, dirt, grime and grease, palm vein biometric technology relies on capturing an image of the vein pattern beneath the skin and using that image as the basis for individual identification.  Unlike fingerprint technology, the integrity of the skin is not an issue with palm vein biometrics.  By using near infrared light to capture a palm vein pattern beneath the skin surface to identify an individual, it bypasses the need to have quality fingerprints in order to successfully use a biometric identification system for nearly 100% of end users.

Why is Palm Vein a Good Fit for Healthcare?

As we had mentioned in a previous post, the healthcare industry is crippled by the costs, liability and decline in quality patient care that inaccurate patient identification brings.  Not only does biometric technology solve this problem by eliminating patient fraud and lowering hospital liability but palm vein healthcare biometrics fits hand in glove with the unique needs of the industry.  Since healthcare caters to an extremely wide demographic of end users with a higher than average percentage that have less than ideal fingerprint integrity, palm vein biometrics is a great fit to ensure that everyone is accurately identified, all of the time.

RightPatient from M2SYS

Luckily, the healthcare industry has RightPatient from M2SYS to rely on for their patient identification needs.  Combining the power of Palm Secure technology from Fujitsu with the M2SYS Hybrid Biometric Platform, healthcare biometrics technology is a powerful tool in the fight against inaccurate patient identification.

Are you sacrificing quality care due to the absence of a reliable patient identification technology?  Please contact us for more details on how RightPatient can work for you.