Blog Posts on Patient Identification in Healthcare

understanding the differences between patient identification technologies in healthcare

New eBook: Understanding the Differences Between Patient Identification Technologies

understanding the differences between patient identification technologies in healthcare
understanding the differences between patient identification technologies in healthcare

RightPatient® released its first eBook covering the topic of how to make sense of patient identification technology options in healthcare.

Accurate patient identification in healthcare is often underrated as one of, if not perhaps the most important functions to ensure the right care is delivered to the right patient. The unfortunate rise in medical identity theft and fraud coupled with the increased scrutiny of the healthcare industry to provide safer environments for patients has pushed many hospitals and medical facilities to reassess patient identification protocols and investigate the adoption of technologies that will help increase authentication accuracy, prevent the creation of duplicate medical records and overlays, and eliminate medical identity theft and fraud.  More hospitals are moving away from traditional, paper based identification checks and towards technologies that automate authentication and rely more on proving identities based on “what you are,” compared to “what you have.” Read more

Removing the Word “Scan” from Iris Recognition for Healthcare Biometrics

Look no farther for a sensationalized depiction of biometric identification technology than the Tom Cruise movie “Minorty Report.”

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Most people confuse iris recognition with retinal scanning that beams visible light into the eye to capture individual biometric credentials.

Packed with scenarios that stretch the truth on how biometric technology actually works, the movie has unfortunately become a rallying cry for those opposed to the technology as an example of just how invasive the technology is to our personal privacy. While there are arguments to be made on both sides on whether biometric identification technology is a privacy detractor or a privacy boost, one thing is true: In the real world, front end biometric hardware devices work much differently than what we see on the big screen or when flipping through the pages of a science fiction novel. Which brings us to the topic of iris recognition. 

When most people hear the words “iris recognition” they immediately confuse the technology with “retinal scanning,” a completely separate and totally different biometric modality. As our community already knows, iris recognition and retinal scanning are two completely different biometric modalities each operating under separate functional parameters and each using a different method of capturing individual biometric characteristics. Most people associate iris recognition with something that looks like this:

The picture above shows a retinal scanner beaming visible light into the human eye to read the unique physiological characteristics of the retina, located in the back of the eye. Despite it’s extremely high identification accuracy, retinal scanning is widely considered to be one of if not the most invasive biometric modality and an impractical technology for commercial use in high throughput environments. Conversely, iris recognition uses a sophisticated digital camera to capture your photograph, which maps unique data points of your iris (located in the front of the eye) and uses that information to create a unique identity template which is used on subsequent identification attempts and is also an extremely accurate . 

Iris recognition does not beam any visible light into your eyes, is 100% safe to use, and does not perform anything even close to a “scan” – it is simply a digital photograph (albeit much more sophisticated that pictures we take with our digital cameras and cell phones). Here, we see a patient at a hospital using an iris camera for identification – notice how there aren’t any lights or lasers beamed into their eyes during the photograph capture process:

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Iris recognition cameras do not beam any lights or lasers into the human eye. They simply take a digital photograph.

Why is it important to know that iris recognition does not “scan” your eyes? Like it or not, the proliferance of biometric technology for individual identification is a reality that we all must come to terms with. In fact, if you have never participated in a biometric identification deployment, chances are at some point you will considering the rapid pace in which many industries are adopting the technology as a tool to increase security, create efficiencies, eliminate waste and fraud, and raise accountability and productivity. In healthcare, many hospitals and medical facilities have already deployed iris recognition biometrics for patient identification, and are expanding their deployments to provide the technology for accurate patient ID at each and every touchpoint along the care continuum.

In the healthcare industry specifically, understanding what to expect when you participate in a biometric identification deployment is a key factor in accepting the technology as a key tool to help stop medical identity and fraud at the point of service and to eliminate duplicate medical records which are a direct threat to your safety. So the next time you visit the hospital or a medical facility that has deployed iris biometrics for patient identification, you are now empowered with the information on how the front end technology works and can rest assured that you are not being “scanned” in any way, shape, or form. It’s a photograph, not a scan!

What other common misunderstandings about biometrics may cause you trepidation? 

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How Accurate Patient Identification Impacts Health Information Management (HIM)

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We have spent a lot of time during the past few years discussing how establishing accurate patient identification in healthcare with biometrics is the most effective technology to prevent:

— Duplicate medical records 
— Healthcare fraud
Medical identity theft

and improve:

— Patient safety
— Revenue cycle management

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The use of biometrics for patient identification in healthcare helps HIM departments spend time on more value added services.

What often goes unnoticed is the impact that biometric patient identification solutions have on Health Information Management (HIM) departments. HIM departments carry tremendous responsibility on their shoulders in any healthcare organization acting as the entity in charge of providing and processing medical records containing patient information from pre-admission through discharge and afterward until the record is complete. This process includes:

— Preparing, indexing, and imaging all paper medical records
— Analyzing the health record for accuracy and to ensure it is completed
— Releasing patient information and protections assigned for closed-adoption, drug treatment, alcohol treatment, sexual, and behavioral health issues
— Coding for research, reimbursement, and provider report cards – coding personnel are responsible for abstracting diagnoses and procedures from   medical records and assigning them a numerical code to ensure accurate billing and for data collection
— Analyzing active medical records to ensure all diagnoses are accurately documented
— Upon a client’s discharge from the hospital, process documents to provide relevant client demographic and medical information to the designated aftercare agencies to facilitate follow-up and continuity of the client’s care

Often considered the “medical record gatekeepers” of the healthcare industry, HIM departments perform one of the most critical functions in the healthcare work flow by ensuring the safety of patients through medical record accuracy. HIM also helps to facilitate fast and efficient payments under strict time constraints for services rendered, and spend a lot of time correcting patient records because healthcare facilities want to be paid on the care provided to patients in a timely fashion.

A large part of medical record reconciliation is resolving duplicate medical records and overlays (when two patients medical histories appear on one medical record) which consumes Full Time Equivalents (FTE’s), and swallows up resources that could otherwise be spent on more value-added tasks that directly impact revenue cycle management and limits penalties.

Litigation is also an important point to stress. A patient’s chart must be able to withstand the scrutiny of a legal proceeding if a patient were to sue a healthcare facility lending even more importance to the work of HIM to ensure medical record accuracy. There is also the issue of reporting. The HIM department is directly responsible that medical records are accurate for quality reporting which has a direct impact on reimbursement and avoiding penalties imposed by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) that range from readmissions to demonstrated improvement in patient outcomes. Keep in mind the new healthcare paradigm – stressing the quality vs. the quantity of services provided, a huge shift change that carries additional responsibility and an increased sense of urgency to ensure data accuracy at any healthcare facility.

Which brings us to the use of biometrics for accurate patient identification on the front end.

Healthcare facilities that have invested in deploying biometrics for accurate patient identification to prevent duplicate medical records and overlays on the front end are seeing the trickle down benefits to HIM departments, specifically the fact that they are spending less time reconciling duplicates and overlays and more time on coding, revenue cycle management, and reporting. It should be noted however, that biometric patient identification solutions built with search capabilities based on “one-to-many” matching types are the only solutions available that can truly prevent duplicate medical records, fraud, and medical identity at the point of registration. Do your homework before selecting a vendor, not all offer this type of back end matching capability. 

Why is it important to reduce HIM FTEs spent on reconciliation of duplicate medical records and overlays? As noted earlier, many hospitals have expanded responsibilities vis-à-vis Meaningful Use, EHR implementation, and meeting Affordable Care Act requirements, and it has become disadvantageous to continue devoting any time at all to duplicate medical record and overlay reconciliation. Biometric patient identification solutions open the door to re-allocation of HIM FTEs to more critical functions such as coding, reimbursement, and reporting. Simply put, implementing biometrics during patient registration is opening the door for HIM departments across the industry to provide a larger and more productive support role to meet the shifting sands of reimbursement and address the need to move towards quality vs. quantity of care.

Hospitals should be actively seeking to deploy patient matching and patient identification technologies that eliminate barriers (e.g. duplicate medical records, overlays) and maximize HIM productivity to shift FTEs away from continuous master patient index (MPI) cleanup and more towards coding, quality review, reimbursement, and other areas. Many hospitals are already re-aligning their HIM departments in the wake of EHR implementation, and we expect to see more of the same for those using biometrics for accurate patient identification. 

What other ways can the use of biometrics for patient identification reduce HIM FTEs?

RightPatient is a patient identity management and patient engagement solution for healthcare

RightPatient® Receives Award from Fierce Markets for Patient Identity Management Solution

RightPatient is a patient identity management and patient engagement solution for healthcare
RightPatient is a patient identity management and patient engagement solution for healthcare

RightPatient® was awarded “Best in Class” and “Fiercest Engagement Solution” for their patient identity management and patient engagement platform that helps to increase patient safety.

We are honored to announce that FierceMarkets, renowned publishers of many prestigious B2B publications, including several dedicated to healthcare and health IT, bestowed the “Fiercest Engagement Solution” award to us for our RightPatient® patient identity management and patient engagement solution. The entire RightPatient® team was excited and humbled to be recognized for our efforts to help increase patient safety, eliminate duplicate medical records, and prevent medical identity theft and fraud.

The FierceMarkets awards recognize pioneering technologies and solutions that will “catapult healthcare delivery into exciting new realms.” An elite team of judges comprised of CEOs and technology leaders from leading U.S. hospitals and health systems carefully evaluated candidates based on the following criteria: Read more

using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare

Podcast Features RightPatient® President Michael Trader Discussing Biometrics and Patient Identification

using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare

Our thanks goes out to Kelley Hill and Terry Baker from Healthcare Tech Talk for inviting our own Michael Trader to speak about the rising use of biometrics for patient identification in healthcare.

using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare

The rising use of using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare has hospitals curious about the technology.

Kelley and Terry recently hosted a podcast to learn more about how the use of biometric identification technology is helping to: Read more

more hospitals are using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare to increase patient safety

New Podcast Released on the use of Biometrics for Patient ID in Healthcare

more hospitals are using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare to increase patient safety

Thank you to our friends at Avisian publishing for allowing us the opportunity to appear as a guest on their latest SecureID News, “Regarding ID” podcast on the increasing use of biometrics for patient ID in healthcare.

more hospitals are using biometrics for patient identification in healthcare to increase patient safety

Listen in to this podcast from SecureID News on the rise of biometrics for patient identification in healthcare.

Listen in to this podcast where SecureID News’ Gina Jordan interviews both Michael Trader, President of M2SYS Technology, and Melaine Wilson, VP of Revenue Cycle Management at Novant Health to discuss:

  • What is RightPatient®?
  • Why patients are overwhelmingly being acceptive of using biometrics to protect their medical identity and ensure they receive accurate medical care
  • How RightPatient® protects patient privacy
  • Where is biometrics for patient identification being used across the care continuum?
  • How is Novant Health using RightPatient® at their hospitals?
  • What Novant Health patients are saying about using iris biometrics for identification
  • Why RightPatient® was built to seamlessly interface with ANY EHR provider software
  • How easy it is to scale up the RightPatient® system 
  • How RightPatient® is used for accurate patient identification across an EMPI
  • How RightPatient® supports: patient safety, quality outcomes, and hospital infection control

This podcast serves as an excellent resource for education on how the RightPatient® biometric patient ID system works, why hospitals are adopting the technology, what patients think about it, and it’s application to authenticate a patient at each and every touchpoint along the care continuum.

Thank you to Gina and the entire SecureID News team for the opportunity to appear on the podcast and discuss the rising use of biometrics for patient ID in healthcare!

patient identification in healthcare

Patient Identification and the Cosmos – Can we Draw a Correlation?

patient identification in healthcare

It may be a stretch of the imagination to draw a comparison between the Big Bang theory and patient identification in healthcare but that is exactly what we did in our latest article posted over at HealthITOutcomes.com. In an effort to illustrate the importance of accurate patient identification in healthcare, we point out that just as the Big Bang is considered the prevailing cosmological model that explains and is responsible for our existence, accurate patient ID could also be considered the genesis of quality healthcare in a patient centric universe.

patient identification in healthcare

Can the big bang teach us something about the importance of patient identification in healthcare?

Widely considered one of the most complex and pressing issues for healthcare to solve, patient identification does not truly get the attention it deserves within the industry especially when discussing health information exchanges, interoperability, and the clean exchange of health data across disparate networks. Our goal is to not only draw more attention to the importance of solving the patient identification dilemma, but to illustrate how critical getting patient ID correct is in the larger context of healthcare delivery.

Thank you to Health IT Outcomes for allowing us the opportunity to publish this post on their site, please read and leave us a comment! 

RightPatient - Healthcare Biometric Patient Identification RightPatient®

UCSD’s RMAS Department Deploys RightPatient® Biometric Patient Identity Management Solution

RightPatient - Healthcare Biometric Patient Identification RightPatient®
biometric patient identification to improve patient safety and medical data integrity

UCSD’s Moore’s Cancer Center has implemented the RightPatient® patient identity management and data integrity solution.

Today we announced that the Department of Radiation Medicine & Applied Sciences (RMAS) at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center has implemented a customized version of the RightPatient® patient identification solution to accurately identify patients as a safety precaution prior to receiving radiation treatment. Originally deploying a biometric device that required physical contact by patients, RMAS staff switched to non-contact iris recognition due to the fact that it more effectively supports patient safety and infection control protocols. Due to the fact that cancer radiation treatments can be lethal if not administered accurately, RMAS staff needed to implement a fail safe patient identification solution that offered the flexibility to capture patient photos and a biometric credential that is linked to their medical record and can ambiguously identify them throughout their entire life – RightPatient® with iris biometrics filled their need perfectly by ensuring accurate care delivery while maintaining a hygienic and safe environment for patients. We continue to be encouraged at the versatility and variety of our RightPatient® biometric patient identity management and data integrity solution deployments within the healthcare industry to protect patient safety and ensure accurate care delivery. RMAS staff plan to closely evaluate the effectiveness of the RightPatient® solution for possible future expansion to other areas around the medical campus and are pleased with positive patient reaction to the technology thus far as a tool to protect their identities and ensure they receive proper care. For more information on RightPatient® – the industry’s most advanced patient identity management and data integrity solution – please visit our Web site. We have a large library of educational resources to help you make the right decision when deploying biometric patient identification solutions.

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Biometric Patient ID Technology Must Prevent Medical ID Theft at Point of Enrollment

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Did you know that not all biometric patient identification technology has the ability to prevent medical ID theft or fraud at the point of service? A new article published in Advance for Health Information Professionals entitled “Defining Patient Identification and Verification in Healthcare” points out that:

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Not all biometric technologies can prevent medical ID theft at the point of enrollment.

“Biometric patient identification systems based on 1:1 or 1:Few matching require medical facilities to ask patients for some form of identification or credential before the patient performs a biometric scan. The identification or credential provided (e.g., DOB) locates a specific patient record or group of records (e.g., list of patients with a specific DOB). When a biometric scan is performed, the captured template is only compared against one record (verification) or a very small, segmented group of records (1:Few). This does not provide a mechanism to compare the patient’s scanned biometric template against all records in the database to check for duplication or to prevent someone from being registered under multiple IDs. 1:1 and 1:Few verification will not prevent a duplicate record from being created and opens the door for patients to enroll under multiple identities and commit fraud.”

Understanding biometric patient identification systems require basic knowledge about how back-end searches are performed and under what conditions. Much to the disappointment of some hospitals, they are quickly discovering that the biometric patient identification solution they invested in does have the capability to prevent medical identity theft at the point of enrollment but can be circumvented by a patient enrolling under multiple birth dates because the search technology they are using relies on 1:Few segmented identification.

RightPatient-protects-patient-records-and-prevents-medical-ID-theft

We encourage hospitals to practice sound due diligence when vetting out different biometric patient identification technologies and ask the right questions about the back end search capabilities, hygiene, system architecture, biometric search speeds, and more. For more information about the differences between biometric search capabilities, please contact us at info@rightpatient.com.

When investigating a biometric patient identification system, make sure to choose one that supports infection control initiatives

Biometric Patient Identification Technology Should Support Hospital Infection Control Standards

When investigating a biometric patient identification system, make sure to choose one that supports infection control initiatives

Wikipedia defines infection control in healthcare as “the discipline concerned with preventing nosocomial infections or healthcare-associated infection…an essential, though often under recognized and under supported part of the infrastructure of healthcare.” As part of patient and staff safety protocol, hospitals aggressively implement and monitor infection control measures which include consistent cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization of equipment, instruments, and non-antimicrobial surfaces.

When investigating a biometric patient identification system, make sure to choose one that supports infection control initiatives

Biometric patient identification systems should support hospital infection control initiatives

Patients and staff can be most susceptible to infection by coming in contact with a ‘touch’ surface that hasn’t been properly disinfected or sanitized by hospital staff. As more hospitals evaluate and deploy biometric patient identification systems for patient identification to help:  

  • Increase patient safety
  • Eliminate duplicate medical records
  • Prevent patient fraud and medical identity theft
  • Reduce risk
  • Overcome issues with cultural naming conventions
  • Streamline patient registration

through research and due diligence, they are discovering there are choices in what types of solutions to implement. One of the choices is what type of biometric hardware device to use as the mechanism to enroll patients and subsequently identify them on future visits. Since biometric patient identification technology devices are consistently being used day in and day out, and may receive hundreds of touches per day in high throughput environments, it seems like contactless hardware would be a more logical choice to deploy. If a hospital chooses a biometric patient identification system with a hardware device that requires a patient to physically touch a non-antimicrobial surface during use they are obligated to wipe the surface with a disinfectant or sanitizing cloth after each use to support hospital infection control procedures. This can add up to a significant cost in disposable sanitizing wipes, especially for hospitals that see a larger number of patients per year. Let’s take a look at some conservative estimates on how much a hospital may spend on sanitizing wipes if they choose to use a biometric patient identification solution that requires physical patient contact: Number of patients seen per year: 350,000 Price per disinfecting wipe canister (75 count): $8.95 Average price per wipe: $.11 Total amount spent per year on disinfecting wipes: $38,000 Even if you factor in possible bulk purchasing discounts that hospitals are eligible for and reduce by half the average price per wipe to $.06, a medium sized hospital that sees an average of 350,000 patients per year can still spend up to $21,000 per year on sanitizing wipes. Contactless biometric hardware devices like iris biometrics for patient identification would alleviate any hygiene concerns and support hospital infection control initiatives. If you are a hospital or healthcare system investigating biometric patient identification systems, it’s important to factor in whether they support hospital infection control initiatives as part of your due diligence.