M2SYS Blog On Biometric Technology

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.

Yesterday, Fujitsu and M2SYS hosted a webinar on how palm vein biometrics can help strengthen PCI and Workforce Management (WFM) Compliance. We discussed some common challenges that PCI and WFM non-compliance create as well as how businesses need to identify technology applications that will help to lower risk and create efficiencies.  In addition, we covered discussed how palm vein biometrics can:

1.  Replace complicated passwords with a palm scan

2.  Increase record storage security

3.  Establish significant cost savings

4.  Stop employee buddy punching

5.  Improve productivity

6.  Create a concrete audit trail

7.  Reduce payroll errors

8.  Strengthen labor law adherence

A copy of the slides are available on SlideShare by clicking here.  If you would like to hear an audio recording of the webinar, please click on the video below:

M2SYS and Fujitsu will be offering a free webinar on August 30th from 2:00 to 2:30pm EST, 11:00 to 11:30pm PST on how palm vein technology can help to strengthen workforce management and PCI compliance.  The webinar will cover how using biometric palm vein technology to strengthen compliance can: help replace passwords with a palm scan, increase record storage security, establish significant cost savings, stop employee buddy punching, improve productivity, create a concrete audit trail, reduce payroll errors and strengthen labor law adherence.

RightPunch soft clock custom employee time and attendance data interface

We are proud to announce that we have recently released a free white paper entitled: “Eliminating Time Theft, Establishing Accountability and Increasing Productivity with Biometric Technology.”  This  white paper begins with a look at the problems lack of employee accountability creates for a business and how it negatively impacts efficiency and profitability.  It then examines the increasing problem of employee time theft (offering in depth look at actual examples like extended lunch breaks, lollygagging, etc.) and how it impacts a businesses bottom line, causing billions of dollars of losses each year.  The white paper then studies limitations that traditional employee time and attendance methods pose including; sharing personal identification numbers (PIN’s), replacing stolen or lost employee ID badges, cost of resetting passwords and more.  We then explore monetary and productivity losses from inefficient payroll techniques including detailed charts and graphs that break down the numbers and present alarming statistics on just much these factors can drain profitability.

The white paper then discusses the positive impact that biometric identification technology has on employee time and attendance providing concrete examples on realized monetary savings and the direct links of adopting biometrics to increase risk mitigation.  Next we break down the different biometric modalities (fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein and iris recognition) providing the benefits of each as well as a detailed modality usability and accuracy chart.  We finish up the white paper by comparing a PC-based biometric “soft” clock with a wall mounted biometric time clock.

We hope that this white paper is helpful for our readers to gain a more thorough understanding about the value of biometric technology for time and attendance and the advantages that it brings compared to other more traditional forms of employee identification.  Please fill out the contact form on the right if you would like to receive a copy of the white paper, or click on this link:

http://m2sys.com/eliminate-time-theft-with-biometrics-white-paper.htm

Thank you for sharing this post with anyone that you feel may benefit!

M2SYS Palm Vein Reader with Fujitsu PalmSecure Contactless Sensor Technology

Recent reports have suggested that the contactless biometric sensor market is poised for rapid growth as more deployments of the technology take hold in vertical markets around the globe.  The report suggests that market growth for touchless sensing could reach $3656.8 million ($3.6 billion) by the end of 2015.  Touchless biometric sensors can be found in biometric hardware like Fujitsu’s PalmSecure Palm Vein biometric reader, Hitachi’s VeinID Finger Vein device and contactless fingerprint readers.  The report defined target applications for the technology as gaming, consumer electronics, automotives and transportation.

As biometric deployments begin to expand into markets and environments that are characterized by end users who may possess less than ideal skin conditions to use fingerprint technology, contactless biometric sensor technology is proving to be a viable solution.  We have previously stated that fingerprint technology is not a one-size-fits-all solution due to its reliance on skin integrity and difficulty to function properly in certain environments and with various ethnicities.  Contactless biometric sensors (which have also proven to be more accurate than sensors that require contact) alleviate these problems plus offer the added feature of being more hygienic, a problem that plagues biometric technology with sensors that require contact.

Expect to see more interest in vascular biometrics and iris recognition as companies, organizations and countries seek to deploy secure, accurate, hygienic biometric identification solutions in the future.