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Demonstrating-RightPatient-smart-app

Mobile Patient Identification with the RightPatient Smart App

Demonstrating-RightPatient-smart-app

Amidst the hoopla and chaos of this year’s HIMSS conference in Orlando, we introduced a new feature for our cloud-based RightPatient biometric patient identification solution: the RightPatient Smart App. This is kind of a big deal for the healthcare industry because the RightPatient Smart App has the power to turn any smartphone or tablet into a powerful patient recognition device.

In other words, this is anything but a ho-hum development in the concerted effort to adopt more modern patient ID technology. Allow me to explain…

Demonstrating-RightPatient-smart-app

As we have written about before, increased recognition of the critical importance of accurate patient identification for patient safety has played an important role in our own research and development of the RightPatient cloud biometric patient identification solution.  I don’t think I’m alone in saying that most patients see patient identification as the part of our healthcare experience that starts with sitting in front of a registrar at a healthcare facility so they can obtain our insurance information and make sure we are who we claim to be.

However, anyone who has spent time as a patient in a healthcare environment knows that most medical facilities don’t stop with establishing accurate identification at the point of registration. You may have your ID checked before medication disbursement, prior to the administration of a medical procedure, or perhaps just before surgery. This is important for patient safety, and to reduce the risk of adverse events from wrong patient procedures. 

The problem is that many patient identification mistakes are still regularly made across the healthcare industry. This can cause irreparable harm to patients and providers in many cases. Fortunately, we provide the most innovative technology in the market to solve this problem. 

Mobile-Patient-Identification-with-the RightPatient-Smart-App

For example, the RightPatient Smart App is a modern, mobile patient identification solution that fills an important void to help healthcare organizations improve compliance and patient safety. Here is a breakdown of the Smart App features and their value to patient identification in healthcare:

  • Mobile patient ID ubiquity: As mentioned earlier, the RightPatient Smart App turns any smartphone or tablet into a powerful mobile patient identification tool. Is this a big deal? Absolutely. The Smart App improves the ability of clinicians and others responsible for care administration to be responsible stewards of patient safety and compliance. It can be used as a multi-factor authentication tool along with another form of identification or act as a standalone patient ID device.  Recognize patients anywhere, anytime, with any smart device.
  • Patient photo: The Smart App matches against the patient photo that was captured by RightPatient during registration for positive identification. We have previously written about the importance of capturing high-quality patient photos and linking them to their electronic health records. RightPatient ensures that a standardized, high-quality enrollment photo is always captured. This increases the efficacy of the Smart App and ensures that providers have images that they can rely on for clinical context.
  • Identifying unconscious patients: There are few things in healthcare more risky than treating an unconscious patient without access to their medical history. The RightPatient Smart App allows clinicians to easily identify unconscious patients through their smartphone to retrieve the patient’s medical record. The Smart App opens the door for accurate patient identification in traditional and non-traditional settings (e.g. – oncology, medical records release, EMTs, home health) – places where perhaps verifying a patient’s identity is required but may not have traditionally been on the compliance radar. The Smart App fills in the patient ID compliance holes that exist in a healthcare organization – enabling higher levels of patient safety and helping to reduce medical errors and risk.

Medical errors caused by patient misidentification will continue to rise with increased data sharing and human error. In fact, the ECRI institute recently included patient identification errors in its most recent annual top-10 list of patient safety concerns. Powered by the RightPatient cloud platform, the Smart App will strengthen patient safety, reduce risk, and more effectively humanize the healthcare experience – a critical element of improving patient satisfaction and empathetic care delivery. Design and development of this new feature was a direct result of our 15 years of experience in biometric technology, listening to the needs of our customers, and delivering a practical solution that increases the power and reach of our industry-leading patient identification technology. You asked. We listened.

Have questions about the RightPatient Smart App? Drop us an email at info@rightpatient.com or visit here to request a free demo.

healthcare apps and wearables are effective for managing personal health

On The Fence About Using Healthcare Apps and Wearables? This May Change Your Mind.

healthcare apps and wearables are effective for managing personal health

The following post was submitted by Jeremy Floyd, Director of Sales with RightPatient®

If you are still on the fence about using healthcare apps and/or wearables to better manage individual health or if it’s a brand new concept that’s peaked your curiosity but you want to know more, recent survey results may nudge you closer to adoption. Reported by mobihealth news, the survey polled 1,1015 American adults asking if they were interested in using a mobile app to manage their health. Two-thirds of survey participants responded “yes.” Two-thirds! The research report linked to the survey reported that (no surprise) millennials were more than twice as likely to show interest in using a mobile app for personalized health management compared to adults 66 and older.

healthcare apps and wearables are effective for managing personal health

Recent survey results indicate that more American adults are open and willing to the use of healthcare apps and wearables to more effectively manage personal health.

The survey went on to report that survey participants were most interested in tracking :

  • Diet and nutrition (47%)
  • Medication reminders (46%)
  • Symptom tracking (45%)
  • Physical activity tracking (44%)

The overriding point that the survey illuminates is that the era of using healthcare apps and wearables for personalized health management is upon us. No longer just shiny new tools that offer basic functionalities only used by the elite, healthcare apps and wearables are becoming vital tools that encite behaviorial shifts needed to more effectively and proactively manage our day-to-day health regimens.  Couple this with the fact that mobile is the fastest-growing sector of the digital health market, and the new personal health management paradigm isn’t hard to picture. 

Just a few short years ago, the birth of healthcare apps and wearables brought us clunky, rather inefficient tools that focused mostly on data reporting and wellness metrics. However, as the market evolved, the utility and connectivity of these tools matured, and more solutions were built that began to not just report data, but analyzed, shared, and extracted wisdom from it too. Apps and wearables went from “cool” to “essential” for effective health monitoring and data that produces actionable results to improve outcomes. And it seems like, it virtually happened overnight.

It could also perhaps be argued that the psychology of using of healthcare apps and wearables is as critical to the function of the tool itself. As notorious creatures of habit, our society tends to cling to tried and tested methods that have proven to be effective. Few are willing to take a leap of faith and venture into new territory that could otherwise disrupt the status quo, especially when it comes to a topic as sensitive as healthcare. Your health, is after all, your life. But what we are beginning to see as more of these healthcare apps and wearables prove their worth is a shift change in a willingness to try, backed by more physicians, healthcare providers, and peers who stand behind these tools as a necessary and essential part of patient activation in the spirit of improved patient engagement to improve outcomes. More patients are starting to look around and accept that the smartphone and digital health tools just can’t be ignored any longer and must be incorporated into their regimens throughout the patient journey. Now, it becomes a question of choosing which tools (or combination of tools) will be the most effective, based on the unique needs of each patient.

Embrace these new tools. Relish their portability. Talk to your doctor. Discuss them with your family and peers. But above all, give them a chance to make a difference. 

 On The Fence About Using Healthcare Apps and Wearables? This May Change Your Mind.Jeremy Floyd is Director of Sales with RightPatient®. With over 5 years of experience in providing patient safety and patient engagement technical solutions to the healthcare industry, Jeremy speaks around the country to healthcare professionals on the future of health empowerment.