Enhancing Hygiene and Efficiency in Healthcare with Iris Recognition Technology

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As the world continues to grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining a sterile environment in healthcare settings has become more crucial than ever. Now, more than any other time, the spotlight is on the choice of biometric hardware and its direct impact on hygiene standards in these settings. In this light, iris recognition technology is rapidly carving a niche for itself as a preferred choice in healthcare facilities. Its non-contact nature minimizes the spread of pathogens, fostering a safer environment for patient care.

Introducing RightPatient®, a groundbreaking biometric patient identification solution that leverages the power of iris recognition technology. Unlike traditional biometric hardware systems that require physical contact, RightPatient® is entirely contactless. This feature is not only instrumental in minimizing the potential for transmission of pathogens but also guarantees a safer and cleaner patient environment.

Why is hygiene such a critical factor in the adoption of iris recognition technology in healthcare? The answer is simple but profound. The non-contact nature of iris recognition technology allows healthcare providers to maintain a sterile environment while simultaneously enhancing efficiency in patient identification. Therefore, RightPatient®, with its touchless attribute, emerges as an intelligent choice for healthcare providers looking to streamline their workflow without compromising patient safety.

Need evidence? Consider the positive outcomes stemming from RightPatient’s implementation at eight hospitals in Charlotte and Winston-Salem, including Martin Health in Stuart, Florida. Thanks to its non-contact feature, RightPatient® has remarkably optimized patient registration and significantly improved identification accuracy. This has resulted in over 99% patient acceptance and enrollment. These improvements have not only saved invaluable time but also minimized potential contamination risks, fostering an efficient and hygienic care environment.

But RightPatient® doesn’t stop at improving hygiene in healthcare settings. It extends its reach to significantly reducing fraud and medical ID theft, averting medication errors, and eliminating duplicate patient records. Moreover, with its capability to identify patients bedside using any Windows-based tablet or smartphone, medical staff can now provide safer and more efficient care.

In essence, the significance of hygiene in choosing biometric hardware for patient identification cannot be overstated. As healthcare providers continually prioritize patient safety, the adoption of non-contact solutions like RightPatient® will only continue to grow. RightPatient® not only streamlines your workflow, but it also communicates to your stakeholders that patient health and safety are your topmost priorities.

To learn more about RightPatient® and its touchless biometric patient identification solution, visit our website or contact us directly. Experience the benefits of a solution that not only improves your workflow but also underscores your commitment to hygiene and patient safety. With RightPatient®, hygiene and patient safety are not just words; they are an intrinsic part of your healthcare delivery system.

How to Implement RightPatient® in Your Healthcare Facility

  1. Understand the Benefits:
    First, familiarize yourself with the benefits of RightPatient®. Learn how its iris recognition technology can enhance hygiene and efficiency in your healthcare facility.
  2. Plan Your Implementation:
    Next, plan your implementation strategy. Understand why biometric patient identification implementation should be a priority in your healthcare facility.
  3. Train Your Staff:
    Train your staff on how to use RightPatient®. Show them how it can be used to authenticate patients bedside using any Windows-based tablet or smartphone.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is RightPatient®?
    RightPatient® is a touchless biometric patient identification solution that uses iris recognition technology. It is designed to maintain a sterile environment in healthcare settings by eliminating the need for physical contact during patient identification.
  2. Why is RightPatient® considered a preferred choice in healthcare facilities?
    RightPatient® is preferred due to its non-contact nature, which minimizes the spread of pathogens and ensures a safer environment for patient care. It also streamlines the patient identification process, making it more efficient.
  3. What are the benefits of using RightPatient®?
    RightPatient® not only reduces the potential for transmission of pathogens but also improves efficiency in patient identification. It has been proven to increase patient acceptance and enrollment, reduce fraud and medical ID theft, avert medication errors, and eliminate duplicate patient records.
  4. Can RightPatient® be used on mobile devices?
    Yes, RightPatient® can identify patients bedside using any Windows-based tablet or smartphone, allowing medical staff to provide safer and more efficient care.

Leveraging Biometrics for Enhanced Patient PHI Protection in Healthcare

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The United States is witnessing an alarming surge in medical identity theft, a crime that poses severe threats to patient safety and healthcare institutions. The primary challenge lies in safeguarding Patient Protected Health Information (PHI), a task that has become increasingly complicated with the rise in patient-driven interactions in the healthcare system. However, the advent of biometrics in healthcare is revolutionizing this landscape by providing an added layer of protection and acting as a formidable deterrent to hackers.

Leading the charge in harnessing the power of biometrics in healthcare is RightPatient, a touchless biometric patient identification solution specifically designed to address modern healthcare challenges.

RightPatient functions as a robust shield for patient data, securing sensitive information and discouraging potential hackers. It offers more than just robust security; RightPatient delivers convenience and efficiency to healthcare providers and patients. Its effectiveness extends to remote patient identification, a critical requirement in the rapidly digitizing healthcare environment. From securing patient portal access to confirming phone interactions, RightPatient ensures that the right patient receives the right care, every time.

Superior security, ultimate convenience, unparalleled efficiency, and compliance assurance are some of the key features that make RightPatient stand out. Its ability to streamline patient interactions and eradicate the need for manual data entry drastically reduces potential errors and enhances outcomes.

The transformative impact of RightPatient is evident in the case of International Health Management. This global health organization faced significant challenges with incorrect patient identification, which led to threats to patient PHI, duplicate patient records, and medication distribution errors. However, after integrating RightPatient, International Health Management managed to enhance the protection of patient PHI and improve their healthcare system.

The integration of RightPatient resulted in accurate patient identification, faster identification procedures, and a significant reduction in duplicate medical records and medication errors. This case underscores the transformative power of biometric patient identification solutions in amplifying patient safety and the overall integrity of healthcare services.

In the current era, where patient safety and data security are intertwined, RightPatient emerges as the preferred solution for hospitals nationwide. It delivers security, efficiency, and peace of mind, safeguarding patients, data, and the bottom line. With RightPatient, getting patient identification right is paramount. Are you ready to witness the transformative impact of RightPatient on overall patient safety and healthcare outcomes? Schedule a demo today.

How to Use RightPatient

  1. Set Up RightPatient:
    After scheduling a demo and deciding to integrate RightPatient into your healthcare system, our team will guide you through the setup process. This includes installing the necessary software and hardware, and training your staff on how to use the system.
  2. Register Patients:
    Once RightPatient is set up, you can begin registering patients. This involves capturing a photo of the patient and linking it to their unique medical record. This process is quick, easy, and completely touchless, ensuring maximum convenience and safety. For more information on patient registration, visit our blog post on Mobile Patient Identification with the RightPatient Smart App.
  3. Verify Patient Identity:
    Each time a patient visits, their identity can be verified using RightPatient. The system will scan their face and match it to the photo linked to their medical record. This ensures that the right patient receives the right care, every time. For more information on patient verification, check out our blog post on The True Meaning of Patient Identification Innovation.
  4. Secure Patient Data:
    RightPatient not only verifies patient identity but also secures patient data. It acts as a robust shield for patient data, deterring potential hackers and ensuring the safety of PHI. For more information on how RightPatient secures patient data, read our blog post on Healthcare Data Security: How Doctors and Nurses Access, Utilize, and Protect Your Information.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is medical identity theft?
    Medical identity theft refers to the illegal use of someone else's personal information, such as their name and health insurance numbers, to obtain medical services, prescription drugs or to make fraudulent claims for financial gain.
  2. What is Patient Protected Health Information (PHI)?
    Patient Protected Health Information (PHI) is any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to a specific individual. This is interpreted rather broadly and includes any part of a patient's medical record or payment history.
  3. How does RightPatient protect PHI?
    RightPatient is a touchless biometric patient identification solution that secures sensitive patient data and deters potential hackers. It ensures that the right patient receives the right care, every time, thereby safeguarding PHI.
  4. What are the key features of RightPatient?
    RightPatient offers enhanced security, ultimate convenience, unrivaled efficiency, and compliance assurance. It streamlines patient interactions, removes the need for manual data entry, and drastically reduces potential errors.
  5. How has RightPatient helped healthcare institutions?
    RightPatient has helped healthcare institutions like International Health Management enhance the protection of patient PHI, improve their healthcare system, and reduce errors like duplicate medical records and medication errors.
accurate patient ID in healthcare helps increase patient safety

New Partnership with CrossChx Signals Positive Changes for Patient ID

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accurate patient ID in healthcare helps increase patient safety

In case you missed it, on Friday we officially announced a new and exciting partnership agreement with CrossChx. Under the terms of the partnership, CrossChx  customers can easily transition their existing SafeChx biometrics solution to RightPatient, while continuing to utilize other CrossChx products such as Olive artificial intelligence.

accurate patient ID in healthcare helps increase patient safety

Announcing a new partnership with CrossChx to help expand the use of biometric patient ID tech in healthcare.

The healthcare industry continues to suffer the ill consequences of inaccurate patient identification, jeopardizing patient safety and the quality of care. RightPatient helps to alleviate patient misidentification and instantly and accurately identifies patients by capturing their photo. This photo is linked to a patient’s unique medical record and travels with them throughout a healthcare provider’s network to ensure safety during care delivery. Plus, clinicians at hospitals that use our patient identification service have commented that they love having a patient’s photo before administering services to help humanize care delivery and help patients feel welcome instead of just thinking they are a name and a number. We love to hear this!

Take notice because the winds of change are shifting for patient identification in healthcare. More providers recognize and understand the advantages and benefits of modernizing their patient ID technology and many are taking a very close look at the advantages that our service offers. Keep in mind that implementing a biometric patient identification service offers additional advantages above and beyond patient safety – most notably improvement in revenue cycle management, increases in patient data integrity, and prevention of fraud and medical identity theft at the point of service. 

Read more about our new partnership with CrossChx here.

Have questions? Drop us an email at: info@rightpatient.com

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Does Renewed Call for National Patient ID Signal…Anything?

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Early last week, a group of 25 healthcare organizations representing providers, payers, and health IT companies submitted a letter to members of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations asking for the removal of a nearly twenty-year-old provision preventing HHS from adopting or implementing a national patient identifier. (source: http://bit.ly/2oQ9PEJ). The goal is to prod Congress to include specific language in the FY18 Labor-HHS spending bill that allows HHS to assist private sector organizations in promoting patient matching initiatives. It’s an unprecedented move to bring yet more attention to the growing and complex problem of accurate patient identification and data matching that continues to plague the healthcare industry from top to bottom, affecting just about every element of care delivery as patients move in and out of the care continuum.

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Will the latest letter to Congress asking for the 18 year HHS moratorium on a national patient identifier encourage them to act?

As we have written about before on this blog, we have been saying for years that healthcare simply has to solve the patient ID dilemma and adopt a more holistic approach to patient matching that effectively addresses authentication at the host of new touchpoints borne from the digital health revolution. In fact, hospitals and healthcare systems that invest in patient ID solutions that only cover identification in physical, brick and mortar environments are doing themselves a disservice and severely limiting their ability to ensure patients are kept safe no matter where or in what context they seek care. If any of these institutions plan to participate in local, regional, or national health information exchanges (HIEs) or adopt interoperability standards in the spirit of open and fluid data exchange, they will quickly realize they made the wrong investment choice.

To frame the urgency of the situation, the letter stated:

 “According to a recent study of healthcare executives, misidentification costs the average healthcare facility $17.4 million per year in denied claims and potential lost revenue,” the letter stated. “More importantly, there are patient safety implications when data is matched to the wrong patient and when essential data is lacking from a patient’s record due to identity issues.” (Source: http://bit.ly/2oQ9PEJ) 

The letter even went on to point out that important initiatives like precision medicine and disease research could continue to suffer and lose significance in the absence of solving the patient ID issue not to underscore the potential negative impact on the aforementioned HIE and interoperability efforts. What’s clear is that millions and millions of research and development capital and manpower has been invested in advancing personalized medicine, data exchange, and interoperability in the absence of solving the problem of inaccurate patient identification and to be honest, we feel that many are starting to get a little nervous.

The question becomes – will this letter actually move the needle and capture the lawmaker’s attention? Considering the new administration’s failed efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare and their healthcare agenda moving forward, our guess is probably not. While we applaud the effort, past attempts to bring this issue to the forefront in the spirit of including language and funding in the HHS appropriations bill that lifts the 18 year moratorium on patient identification have generally stalled. In our opinion, there are too many more high-profile healthcare issues at play that diminish the urgency of solving patient ID in healthcare. Unfortunately, achieving accurate patient ID in healthcare doesn’t carry enough political clout to be considered something worth immediately pursuing and it’s simply not enough of a concern of lawmaker constituents for them to kick up a fuss at the fact that it remains unsolved. At least not yet, anyway.

We wonder….would this group of 25 healthcare organizations be better served to build a larger and more widespread groundswell of support among us, the patients, about achieving accurate patient ID in healthcare instead of going after the big fish (Congress)? Could an argument be made that it’s a more effective strategy to build consensus among patients who, indirectly, can then place pressure on their respective lawmakers to take action? Is it more effective to attack and leverage the power of the voter vs. swaying the whims of Congress? Perhaps, however, it should be noted that grassroots efforts take an enormous amount of time to organize and execute, and the issue of accurate patient ID in healthcare simply can’t afford to wait any longer. 

So, we wait. Cautiously optimistic that when framed in the larger context of tangential initiatives failing in the absence of accurate patient ID, 2017 could indeed be the year that Congress takes a step forward in solving the issue. Heaven only knows if they will act, but a step forward is surely more powerful than 18 steps in place.

patient ID in healthcare

Our Top Posts on Patient ID in 2016

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patient ID in healthcare

We work hard throughout the year to help our community stay informed of the latest news and information on the state of patient identification in healthcare. Our perspective is that the future of patient ID is the patient photo, and with good reason. The ECRI recently recommended that healthcare organizations use more standard means of patient identification, which should include patient photos with their electronic health records (EHR). In addition, many prominent healthcare providers have already implemented patient photo capture initiatives, pointing out that capturing a photo increases patient safety and helps augment effective patient provider communication.

patient ID in healthcare

A look back at our most trafficked blog posts of 2016 and a few words on the state of patient ID in healthcare.

Understanding that accurate patient ID in healthcare affects so many more downstream activities and is widely considered to be the “big bang” of effective and safe patient care, the urgency for hospitals and healthcare organizations to adopt more secure patient identification technology has never been stronger.

Healthcare providers should take note however that not all biometric patient identification solutions are equipped to address the challenges and complexities of ensuring ID accuracy across the entire care continuum which now includes a multitude of new touchpoints such as connected health devices, patient portals, telemedicine, home health, and more. Investing in a patient identification solution that simply provides the ability to accurately identify an individual when they are physically present at a medical facility is now considered short-sighted. Healthcare providers should now consider adopting patient ID technology that is easily scalable, and has the flexibility to capture and store a patient’s photo for accurate identification during any encounter along the care continuum.

In 2016, we wrote extensively about the impact of accurate identification on patient safety including several posts that extrapolate on the imperatives of capturing photos as part of the ID process. We also covered how technology has changed healthcare provider patient ID protocols, the growth and impact on patient ID of iris recognition on smart devices, the characteristics and limitations of patient ID biometric hardware, and much more.

After crunching the numbers, what were our most popular blog posts for 2016? Here is the list:

  1. Identify Unconscious, Unknown Patients with Biometric Identification Technology – Written in May, 2015 this entry was our most trafficked post in 2016. Understanding how biometric technology works in real-life scenarios can help shed light on its true ability to identify unconscious patients as quickly as possible. 
  2. The Difference Between 1:N, 1:1, and 1:Few and Why it Matters in Patient ID – Did you know that there are different biometric matching types depending on the type of hardware modality you deploy for patient ID in healthcare? Written in 2015, this post examines three biometric matching types – one-to-many, one-to-one, and one-to-few – providing a side to side comparison of each matching type capabilities and limitations and providing a recommendation of the only matching type that can truly prevent duplicates and protect patient medical identities.
  3. Removing the word “scan” from iris recognition healthcare biometrics – Our extensive experience deploying iris recognition biometrics around the world helped us to understand and advocate that the word “scan” be removed from any discussion of this technology. Learn more about our viewpoint in this post from 2015.
  4. In Your Face: Future of Federated Patient ID – As we mentioned earlier in this post, the future of patient ID in healthcare is the distinct ability for a provider to capture and store a patient’s photo that can be used for accurate identification at any point along the care continuum. This post, and a subsequent follow up article by our friends at HealthStandards effectively illustrates not only the importance of capturing a patient’s photo at registration but how that photo can be used with facial recognition biometrics for accurate identification no matter where a patient seeks care or data access.
  5. Why telemedicine needs accurate patient ID – Following in the footsteps of our assertion that modern patient identification strategies should be holistic and enable the ability to accurately ID patients at any point along the care continuum, this post covers why we feel accurate patient ID is just as important for connected health and telemedicine as it is for in-person visits.

2016 is a wrap. We observed a few positive advancements to improve patient identification in healthcare, but overall we remain concerned that the topic is often skirted in favor of bolder, more splashy initiatives (e.g. – MACRA, Blockchain, interoperability) which always seem to garner more attention. No doubt that these are important initiatives in the healthcare industry but as we have said many times before — accurate patient identification in healthcare arguably should have been the first problem solved before we tackled these other projects. However, factors at play make it perhaps one of the most difficult and complex healthcare issues to solve from a logistical, political, economical, privacy, and health data exchange perspective.

What did you feel was the most important patient identification advancement (or regression) during 2016? Please leave us a comment!

 

RightPatient expands the use of photo biometrics to Ireland's healthcare providers

Expanding Biometric Patient Identification to Raise Patient Safety Levels in Ireland

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RightPatient expands the use of photo biometrics to Ireland's healthcare providers
new partnership brings accurate patient identification technology to Ireland's healthcare providers

Our new partnership with The Lava Group will help to improve accurate patient identification for healthcare providers in Ireland.

The following post was submitted by Michael Trader, President and Co-Founder of RightPatient®

Excited to announce that RightPatient® has partnered with The Lava Group to expand the use of photo biometrics for accurate patient identification to healthcare providers in Ireland! The goal is to expand use of our patient identification platform to Ireland’s healthcare providers who seek to implement technology that increases patient safety, prevents medical identity theft, and eliminates duplicate medical records.

The Lava Group are experts in providing innovative solutions for the criminal justice and connected health markets with 20 years of experience in some of the most complex and demanding security environments across Europe. They have a long and successful track record in biometric system integration and are well positioned to introduce photo biometrics to ensure accurate patient identification across Ireland.

Accurate patient identification across the care continuum is a persistent global challenge as healthcare organizations continue to struggle with providing an accurate, complete view of patient data across multiple, often disparate providers. Our partnership with The Lava Group is an important step in RightPatient’s efforts to solve the global patient identity challenge.

You can read the full news release on our Web site here. 

rightpatient-intrepid-healthcare-about-current-state-of-patient-identification-in-healthcare-podcastsMichael Trader is President and Co-Founder of RightPatient®. Michael is responsible for overseeing business development and marketing activities, government outreach, and for providing senior leadership on business and policy issues.

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Patient Identification in Healthcare: Unlocking Technology to Improve Patient Safety

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rightpatient - unlocking patient identification technology to improve patient safety

In the effort to draw attention to the ongoing problems that patient misidentification in healthcare creates, we were excited at the opportunity to discuss technology options now available for hospitals to increase patient ID accuracy with the eHealth Radio Network. Listen to the brand new podcast and learn:

rightpatient - unlocking patient identification technology to improve patient safety

Listen to this brand new podcast from the eHealth Radio network featuring RightPatient President Michael Trader discussing the current state of patient identification in healthcare

— The latest news and updates from RightPatient® President Michael Trader
— Why biometric patient ID seamless integration with an EHR system is critical 
— The impact of biometric patient identification solutions on revenue cycle management (RCM)
— Why experience in biometrics and system integration is an important attribute to evaluate when selecting a vendor
— An update on the CHIME/HeroX national patient ID challenge

Take a moment and listen in to this podcast for more information on how to solve the vexing problem of achieving 100% accurate patient ID in healthcare. Thank you to Eric Michaels and the eHealth Radio team for the opportunity!

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Is Petitioning Congress the Answer to Achieving Accurate Patient ID?

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Hat tip for the recent efforts by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) to launch a petition drive that will move Congress to lift the federal legislative ban that has prohibited the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from participating in efforts to find a patient identification solution. It’s a noble effort and adds fuel to the hot fire burning in the industry to solve the persistent and dangerous problem of achieving accurate patient identification in healthcare. We understand that the effort to improve patient identification in healthcare has many downstream benefits to the entire industry including (but not limited to):

— Revenue cycle management
— Patient safety
— Health information exchange
— Population health

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AHIMA’s efforts to petition Congress to life the federal moratorium on funding research on developing a national patient identifier may not do much to adequately solve the problem.

The fact that organizations with the clout of AHIMA and CHIME have contributed their powerful voices to the battle of improving patient ID in healthcare is advantageous to the end goal of finding a universal solution that can be adopted collectively throughout the industry. AHIMA and CHIME’s efforts are working to garner more attention to the persistent patient matching problem in healthcare and sparking more discussions about how to solve the problem. Often relegated as a back seat initiative in favor of other healthcare technology initiatives (e.g. – ICD-10, EHR implementation, interoperability), we have always believed that improving patient identification in healthcare should be higher on the priority list.   

AHIMA’s initiative has merit, but is advocating the use of a credential predicated on the concept of presenting something you have or know the answer to solving the patient identification problem in healthcare? One of the reasons that the healthcare industry has struggled with accurate patient identification is that legacy methods of identifying patients have proven to be easy targets to exploit. Human identification generally falls into three distinct categories:

  • “What you know” – address, phone number, date of birth
  • “What you have” – insurance card, driver’s license, passport, government issued identity
  • “Who you are” – biometrics

Traditional identification methods generally rely on asking a patient what they know or what they have but we already know that these are frequently abused and easy sources to commit fraud. Just look at the continued rise in cases of medical identity theft at the point of service – an estimated 2.3 million Americans or close family members had their identities stolen during or before 2014, and a large number of these cases involve family members stealing or sharing medical insurance credentials.

In geographic locations throughout the country where a large percentage of the patient demographic may share similar names, providing a false name or multiple variations of a name at the point of service in order to defraud the system is common. An example widely used throughout the industry to illustrate this is the Harris County Hospital District in Houston where among 3.5 million patients, there are nearly 70,000 instances where two or more patients shared the same last name, first name and date of birth. Among these were 2,488 different patients named Maria Garcia and 231 of those shared the same birth date.

In geographic locations throughout the country where a large percentage of the patient demographic may share similar names, providing a false name or multiple variations of a name at the point of service in order to defraud the system is common. An example widely used throughout the industry to illustrate this is the Harris County Hospital District in Houston where among 3.5 million patients, are were nearly 70,000 instances where two or more patients shared the same last name, first name and date of birth. Among these were 2,488 different patients named Maria Garcia and 231 of those shared the same birth date.

Pushing Congress to lift the federal moratorium on funding research on developing a national patient identifier may lead to a solution that requires patients who opt-in to bring this credential with them when seeking medical treatment. In the absence of incorporating an additional identification credential that relies on “who you are,” simply creating another individual authentication credential that relies on “what you know” or “what you have” leads us down the same path of abuse and fraud. After all, in theory the national patient identifier would be similar to a social security number or other credential that is subject to being stolen, shared, or swapped just like current methods of identification. Do we really want to allow this to happen? Seems as if this solution would be the equivalent or rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. 

Moving forward, the smarter way to solve the identification crisis in healthcare is to adopt technology that identifies patients by who they are, or some sort of a combination of what you have or what you know with who you are. For example, the use of biometrics for patient identification – already a proven technology that patients accept and significantly reduces duplicate medical records, overlays, medical identity theft, and fraud – would be a more sensible way to identify patients to alleviate the problems caused by misidentification. 

Lobbying Congress to lift the moratorium on funding research to develop a national patient identifier won’t solve the patient ID problem in healthcare unless the industry realizes that it must move away from antiquated identification methods that rely on what you have and/or what you know and instead shift to identifying patients by who they are. Unless this is part of the equation, healthcare will continue to spin it’s wheels in the effort to solve the vexing problem of how to achieve 100% accurate patient identification.

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Patient Hand Hygiene Report Casts Shadow on Contact Dependent Biometric Patient Identification

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Patient Hands May Pose Greatest Threat to Hospital Acquired Infections

Is the heightened awareness on ensuring that doctors, nurses, and other clinical staff wash their hands as part of strict hospital infection control protocols missing an important element? According to a new research report published by NBC News, hospitals would be well served to address another important demographic inside a facility that could perhaps pose an even greater threat to patient safety: patients themselves.

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A recent NBC news article reported that patients carry superbugs on their hands raising concerns about whether contact dependent biometric patient identificaiton solutions support hospital infection control.

Researchers at the University of Michigan released details of a report that found “nearly a quarter of patients they tested had some sort of drug-resistant germ on their hands when they were discharged from the hospital…” The results support the theory that many healthcare experts have long asserted – patients are a major threat to spreading the germs of superbug infections. Researchers tested for a number of bugs, and reported:

“We swabbed the palm, fingers, around nails of patients’ hands. The tests were done when patients were admitted, two weeks later, and then once a month for the next six months.” (Source: http://nbcnews.to/1Xv5Rck)

The report goes on to say that patients frequently bring multi-drug-resistant organisms on their hands to a hospital environment and drew the conclusion that this increases the probability that these organisms are likely to be transmitted to other patients and healthcare workers. A concluding thought of the report was:

“Despite concerns raised by some recent studies, patient hand-washing is not a routine practice in hospitals to date.” (Source: http://nbcnews.to/1Xv5Rck)

Patient Hand Hygiene Raises Concerns About Contact Dependent  Biometric Patient Identification Solutions

As more hospitals investigate the use of biometrics for patient identification, they quickly discover that hardware options available include contact-dependent devices (fingerprint, palm vein) and non-contact devices (iris and facial recognition). Is it a healthcare organization’s responsibility to evaluate the hygiene risks of asking patients to physically touch a biometric device for identification? Do hospitals have an obligation to weigh the risks of hospital-acquired infections that could materialize from using contact-dependent biometrics for patient identification?

The NBC News report certainly calls into question the hygiene risks of deploying any type of technology solution that requires physical contact with a patient and could lead to the spread of germs and disease. Our hope is that hospitals assessing the use of biometrics for patient identification will take this into account and understand the risks involved when using contact-dependent devices and the responsibility to sterilize the device after each use if the decision is made to deploy this type of hardware.

There are many factors to consider when evaluating the use of biometrics for patient identification in healthcare. As we learned from the NBC News report, supporting hospital infection control to prevent the spread of germs and disease by using contactless biometric patient identification is important to consider.

Curious to know more about how to assess the differences in patient identification technology? Download our eBook for more details. 

blab session discusses the current state of patient identification in healthcare

IntrepidNow Radio Discusses Current State of Patient Identification in Healthcare

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blab session discusses the current state of patient identification in healthcare

Delighted at the opportunity to discuss the current state of patient identification in healthcare with Joe Lavelle (@Resultant) from IntrepidNow Radio and Jared Johnson (@jaredpiano) today via blab. Joe and I had a lengthy discussion about patient ID in healthcare at this year’s HIMSS16 trade show and Joe was gracious enough to follow up our conversation with a formal blab session addressing the topic. Here is a brief summary of what we discussed today:

blab session discusses the current state of patient identification in healthcare

Joe Lavelle from IntrepidNow Healthcare Radio interviewed us during a blab session today to talk about the current state of patient identification in healthcare.

  1. How does RightPatient® serve its customers?
  2. Clearing up some of the common misunderstandings about the use of biometrics for patient identification in healthcare.
  3. What is the current state of the patient identification market? What are the leading technologies? What are the key issues? How are customers deploying patient ID solutions?
  4. Are their privacy issues related to implementation of patient identification solutions?
  5. A recent guest on my show, a telemedicine company CEO, told Joe that his largest competition is the status quo. Is that also true for RightPatient®?
  6. Information on CHIME’s National Patient ID Challenge launched in January.
  7. What can we expect from RightPatient® in 2016?

Grateful for the chance to talk about this critical issue in healthcare and offer insight on solutions and initiatives underway. It was an excellent discussion and we were able to touch on a number of issues affected by inaccurate patient identification including: medical identity theft/healthcare fraud, duplicate medical records/overlays, identifying patients at new touchpoints along the care continuum, the advantages of using photo biometrics for patient ID, the culture of patient ID, patient privacy, and more!

Here is the blab session in its entirety: 

Thank you to Joe Lavelle and Jared Johnson for their time today! Stay tuned to the “Resources” section of our Web site for future podcasts, blab sessions, and video interviews.