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How to Properly Clean an Iris Camera

July 15, 2015/4919 views / 0 Comments/in Biometric Hardware, BLOG, Iris Recognition /by John Trader

As more hospitals adopt iris recognition for patient identification, it is important to establish a hardware maintenance initiative to maximize return on investment.

The following guest post was submitted by Joe Kubilius, Director of Product & Process Management at RightPatient®

Advantages of using iris recognition

The use of iris recognition for patient identification in healthcare is rising fast. When hospitals are presented with hardware modality options for deployment, most choose to use iris recognition for these distinct advantages:

1. Hygienic/Non-Invasive – Iris cameras do not require physical patient contact to capture biometric credentials, ensuring a safe, hygienic environment and drastically lowering the risk of patients acquiring hospital borne illness through the spread of germs and bacteria. In addition, no visible lights or lasers are used when capturing a patient’s biometric credential – they simply have their picture taken.

2. Accuracy – Iris recognition is widely considered to be the most accurate form of biometrics across the entire industry. The iris offers more detailed input when constructing biometric enrollment templates than fingerprints or facial recognition and represents one of if not the most unique biometric credential of the human body. The chances of two people having the same iris pattern is 10⁷⁸! Plus, iris recognition relies on one to many biometric matching — the only true way to prevent duplicate medical records/overlays, identify unconscious patients, and prevent medical identity theft and fraud at the point of enrollment.

3. Stability: Did you know that the human iris completely forms at 10 months of age and remains stable throughout your life? Just about every other human biometric attribute can change over time which has a negative impact on system performance and possibly requiring frequent re-enrollment.

4. Speed – Iris recognition is extremely fast, typically returning results in 3 seconds or less even for databases containing millions of records.

As hospitals increase their use of iris recognition, it’s important to remember that hardware maintenance is key to maximizing ROI and avoiding hardware replacement costs. Responsible investments in biometric solutions requires establishing an ongoing hardware maintenance initiative to ensure longevity and optimal system performance.

How to clean an iris camera

Even though patients do not come into direct contact with an iris camera, staff may have limited positioning contact with the device to ensure it properly captures quality photographs. Plus, considering the fact that these devices are used in a healthcare environment, patients or staff may accidentally sneeze or cough on or near the camera causing a need to disinfect. What’s important to remember is that these devices are digital cameras and just like any other biometric hardware device used within a hospital setting, need periodic maintenance to ensure optimal performance. Here are the proper steps to clean an iris camera:

Materials Needed:

Use either a 70%~83% Ethanol mix solution or 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) as the cleaning agent
Only use a microfiber cloth to clean the camera

Steps:

Apply a small amount of ethanol to microfiber cloth and wipe with care but do not rub too hard
Wipe camera with a dry microfiber cloth

Cautions:

Rubbing with pure alcohol could run the risk of removing the paint or finish from the camera
Do not use disinfection medicine with Benzene, Methanol and Acetone as a cleaning solution on the camera

Conclusion

Properly maintaining biometric hardware is key to maximizing ROI and eliminates fees for replacement cameras. Plus, to achieve optimal system performance that ensures patient enrollment success and 100% identification accuracy requires ongoing maintenance that includes cleaning the iris camera when needed. We hope these tips have been helpful!

Joe Kubilius is Director of Product and Process Management with RightPatient®. With over 10 years of experience in the design, development, and implementation of biometric identity management solutions, Joe has been integral to the success of hundreds of large and small scale deployments across the globe.

The Advantages of Dual vs. Single Fingerprints for Patient ID in Healthcare

July 13, 2015/5233 views / 0 Comments/in Biometric Hardware, BLOG, Health Care /by John Trader

Fingerprints for Patient ID

One of the hallmarks of an efficient and value-added biometric patient identification vendor is its ability to offer a choice of biometric modalities to deploy. If you prefer to use fingerprints for biometric patient identification, there are some important factors to consider when assessing hardware to ensure patients can be easily enrolled and accurately identified. Fingerprint biometrics has evolved over the years, and there are many new scanners available that offer distinct advantages over legacy models, most notably the use of dual finger scanners over single image capture devices.

Let’s explore why dual fingerprint scanners pose a greater advantage for patient identification in healthcare.

Considering the use of fingerprints for patient ID in healthcare? More hospitals are evaluating the advantages of dual fingerprints over single image capture devices.

Dual vs. Single Fingerprinting

Is there a difference? Absolutely. Deciding to use a dual vs. a single fingerprint reader for patient ID in healthcare is a smart decision for several reasons:

1. Higher accuracy & reliability: Dual fingerprint readers have the ability to capture two single prints simultaneously, offering enhanced accuracy for identification and verification versus single-finger scanners. A two fingerprint scanner is also more effective at guiding a patient to scan consistently. Patients can touch a single finger in various ways which could lead to more frequent cases of false-no-matches. However, with dual fingerprint readers, patients can’t make these scanning inconsistency mistakes because the device will not return a match (or non-match) unless fingers are properly placed on the scanner.

use dual fingerprint readers for patient identification in healthcare

Dual fingerprint readers offer many more advantages than single image devices including higher accuracy and reliability.

2. Eligibility: Since approximately 10% of the patient population can’t consistently provide high-quality images for enrollment or identification, adding a second finger to a biometric template decreases the percentage of patients who are unable to successfully use fingerprints for identification. Skin integrity can be affected by factors such as age, environment, and working conditions and is an important factor for the success off a biometric fingerprint patient ID deployment. Remember, the end goal for any biometric patient identification deployment is to enroll as many patients as possible to maximize system value, so the fewer patients that are eligible to enroll, the higher the risks are for misidentification which can lead to duplicate medical records/overlays, medical ID theft, fraud — all direct threats to patient safety.

Plus, dual fingerprint readers are considered to be more effective devices to read dry, blurred, wet, damaged, or scarred fingers that diverse patient populations can have.

3. Durability: Most dual fingerprint readers are designed and built to be versatile hardware devices with durability to be used in high throughput environments such as healthcare that can endure long-term heavy use before the end of their life cycle. Single fingerprint readers have a shorter shelf life, and must be replaced more often due to their less durable construction.

4. Affordability: Despite their clear advantages over single image fingerprint readers dual fingerprint readers remain affordable hardware devices for patient ID in healthcare. Dual fingerprint readers for patient ID in healthcare also retain a small form factor to allow their affordable, widespread distribution throughout a health network.

5. Versatility: Dual fingerprint scanners enjoy the same versatility as single print devices to be deployed in a host of different environments including use with mobile devices, an increasingly important environment to ensure accurate patient ID along the entire care continuum.

Curious to see a dual fingerprint reader in action? Take a look at this demo video to learn more about their advantages and how they work:

Considering the use of fingerprints for patient ID? What other questions do you have that we can answer?

CHIME Breathes New Life Into Patient Identity Crisis in Healthcare

July 6, 2015/3465 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG /by John Trader

Last week, word came from Washington D.C. that the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) included language in a letter written to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions that accentuated the importance of accurate patient identification as a key component to ensure patient safety. In the letter, CHIME CEO Russell Branzell wrote:

“The accurate and effective matching of patients with their healthcare data is a significant threat to patient safety. We must first acknowledge that the lack of a consistent patient identity matching strategy is the most significant challenge inhibiting the safe and secure exchange of health information. As our healthcare system begins to realize the innately transformational capabilities of health IT, moving forward toward nationwide health information exchange, this essential core functionality consistency in patient identity matching must be addressed.”

Did CHIME’s recent letter to Congress stressing the importance of establishing a national patient identifier light a fire under the government to act?

Kudos to CHIME for resurrecting this issue and calling intention to its importance in the scope of the new healthcare industry paradigm of fluidly sharing patient data both in and outside of healthcare networks to advance to goal of improving both individual and population health. In their letter, CHIME and Branzell also recommended that Congress remove the prohibition levied on HHS every year since 1999 that prohibits the use of federal funds for the development of a unique patient identifier.

CHIME’s actions are extremely significant in the overall scope of inching closer to the establishment of a national patient identification credential because they are arguably the most influential healthcare lobbyist on Capitol Hill representing the general views of over 1,400 members around the world, many of which are healthcare CIOs — a very powerful voice in health IT. The root of the patient identification problem at hand stems from multiple sources – lack of industry standards, a lack of consistency on how patient data is collected, and the public’s perception that they don’t have to show ID when accessing healthcare, just to name a few. Couple that with the aggressive push to establish concrete interoperability between healthcare systems for the seamless exchange of patient health data and you can see where the conundrum lies.

We have always thought that initiatives set in motion by the healthcare industry championing interoperability have always been sort of a “cart before the horse” scenario. Realistically, how can the healthcare industry expect to achieve meaningful interoperability when one of the core issues to reaching that goal (accurate patient identification) gets little to no attention as a key factor in its success? Furthermore, lack of a sustainable, federated patient identification credential inhibits progress towards the “triple aim” of healthcare — improving the patient experience, improving population health, and reducing the per capita cost of care.

Think the situation could get more complex? Don’t worry, it does. When you factor in the explosion of patient touchpoints permeating the healthcare market (e.g. mobile devices, patient portals, mhealth apps), the patient identification issue becomes much more stickier. As the multitude of channels patients can now submit and access health data to grows, any national patient identification solution must have the ability to address accurate patient identification at each and every touchpoint patients come in contact with. No longer interactions in strictly brick and mortar environments, administering care to patients has slowly evolved in lockstep with the rise of digital health capabilities, pushing the urgency to implement stricter patient ID protocols in an effort to ensure accuracy and safety.

Data accuracy in healthcare is unlike data accuracy in any other industry. Consumers can always rectify banking errors for example, but errors in interpreting inaccurate or missing health data can be matters of life and death adding even more urgency to solving the patient identification dilemma.

As we move closer towards opening the door even wider to advanced discussions on the issues surrounding patient identification within the U.S. healthcare system, you can bet that CHIME will continue to be a strong voice and influential entity to mold and shape future policies that address the need to establish more accuracy at each point along the care continuum.

What are your thoughts on CHIME’s statements to Congress? Will their efforts help left the moratorium? Please let us know in the comments below.

Lessons Learned at this Year’s HFMA ANI Conference

June 26, 2015/4193 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG /by John Trader

Although the use of biometrics for patient ID is not a new concept, many are still unaware of its benefits.

The following post on patient identification in healthcare was submitted by Jeremy Floyd, Healthcare Director at RightPatient®

We were excited at the chance to again participate in the Healthcare Financial Management (HFMA) trade show held this week at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Attendance was brisk, the exhibit hall was packed with vendors displaying the latest technological health IT solutions, and attendees were excited to learn and explore for new opportunities to improve revenue cycle management, coding, and business analytics. As is the case with all conferences and trade shows the RightPatient staff attends each year, we approached the event as a means to learn more about the unique needs of hospital CFO’s, revenue cycle managers, and all those who have a hand in healthcare finance, plus have a chance to demonstrate our own products and services as part of a concerted strategy to improve patient identification in healthcare and to address all of the ancillary conditions that lack of an accurate patient ID strategy can bring to the industry. Here is a recap of what we learned:

1. Despite the fact that using biometrics for patient identification is not a new concept, many still do not know or understand it’s benefits: Perhaps the biggest surprise for us at this year’s HFMA ANI annual conference was the number of CFOs and Revenue Cycle Managers that we spoke with who are still unclear or unaware of the benefits that using biometrics for patient identification can offer healthcare organizations. We talked extensively on this blog about how biometric patient identification positively impacts healthcare information management, how and why patient identification technology should prevent medical identity theft at the point of enrollment, the ability of iris biometrics to identify unconscious patients and how important accurate patient identification is along the care continuum.

The benefits of deploying biometrics for patient identification resonate well beyond patient safety, and include a direct impact on revenue cycles and billing. Many of our existing customers have already seen a direct correlation between accurate patient identification and the revenue cycle, demonstrated in their ability to more accurately bill for services rendered, and offer a concrete audit trail of services provided in cases of dispute.

2. Many still feel that patients will not accept or participate in a biometric identification initiative: As we recently outlined in a blog post, our field research indicates that over 99% of patients accept the use of iris biometrics for identification and willingly enroll in the RightPatient system after they understand what it is being used for, how it protects their safety and privacy, and the protection if offers against medical identity theft and healthcare fraud. Patients do understand the use of biometrics for identification, contrary to popular belief that the technology will be only tepidly accepted.

3. Experience matters: Several people we spoke with at this year’s HFMA ANI show indicated their unwillingness to adopt biometrics for patient identification from a vendor with a short track record, an absence of real world experience in biometric technology, and a customer base that doesn’t include large hospital networks with complicated infrastructures and a wide network. Fortunately, RightPatient has this experience and a deep customer base of both large and small healthcare networks, a platform that already has pre-built versions compatible with all the major EHR providers (Epic, McKesson, CPSI, Meditech, and Cerner®). Plus we offer additional benefits to our biometric patient identification solution such as:

A HIPAA compliant SaaS cloud service designed to create a single, ubiquitous, federated patient identity
A seamless interface with IBM’s Initiate® platform to assign a unique, single patient identity profile across an Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) kept authentic through our biometric matching system
The ability to secure remote personal health information (PHI) data access to safeguard patient privacy and help prevent data breaches that can lead to fraud and medical ID theft
A portable, ergonomic mobile biometric patient identification device to provide convenience and portability when identifying patients bedside, in home health, or in special cases within the emergency department.

We had a very positive experience at this year’s HFMA ANI conference and would like to thank the HFMA staff and all attendees we met for helping us to continue our mission of bringing biometrics for patient identification to more healthcare organizations throughout the world!

Jeremy has worked in the biometrics industry for nearly a decade and has real world experience with fingerprint, palm vein, finger vein, iris and face recognition technologies. He currently oversees the RightPatient™ Healthcare division of M2SYS Technology, including sales, business development and project management. Before taking over the Healthcare unit, Jeremy spearheaded the growth of the core biometrics division, working closely with Fortune 500 clients like ADP, JP Morgan & BAE Systems to implement biometrics in large identity management projects.

Iris Biometrics Deployments Increasing for Patient Identification in Healthcare

June 11, 2015/3440 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG /by John Trader

The following post was written by David Cuberos, Enterprise Sales Consultant with RightPatient®

This week, we announced another hospital that has adopted our biometric patient identification platform using iris biometrics. Like most hospitals who adopt biometrics for patient ID, Terrebonne Regional Medical Center in Houma, LA conducted a thorough evaluation of several different biometric modalities (including fingerprint and palm vein) and ultimately concluded that iris biometrics was the best fit to help accomplish the goals established before the deployment – reduction of duplicate and overlay medical records, elimination of healthcare fraud and medical identity theft, patient data integrity improvement, and raising patient safety standards. Plus, Terrebonne staff recognized that iris biometrics for identification is readily accepted by patients – a key metric to ensure deployment success.

Using-RightPatient-for-patient-identification-helps-increase-patient-safety

Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC) is the latest hospital to leverage the advantages of iris biometrics for patient identification.

As we continue our journey to help hospitals across the world establish safer and more secure methods of identifying patients to ensure their safety across the care continuum, increasingly we see more healthcare organizations opting to deploy iris biometrics over other modalities because of the distinct, unique advantages that this technology offers:

Hygiene – Iris biometrics used a sophisticated digital camera to take a photograph of a patient, requiring no contact with a hardware device by the patient to help support hospital infection control and eliminate the spread of germs, bacteria, and illness.
Biometric matching type – The only way to prevent duplicate medical records and healthcare fraud while at the same time improving patient data integrity is to deploy a biometric patient identification solution that compares a captured biometric enrollment template and compares it to all stored templates in a database during enrollment – otherwise known as a “one-to-many” comparison. It is proven to be the only way to increase patient data integrity across an HIE or IDN and iris biometrics has the unique ability to deliver this one-to-many biometric matching type. In addition, if healthcare organizations seek to leverage biometrics for patient identification to identify unconscious patients, the only way to accomplish this is through a one-to-many biometric matching system.
Search speed & accuracy – Iris biometrics for patient identification in healthcare offers the fastest and most accurate technology on the market. For example, iris biometrics has the capability to search a database containing millions of records and provide a match or non-match within seconds. Plus, iris recognition is widely viewed across the biometrics industry as one of, if not the most accurate biometric identification technology.
Stability – Did you know that the human iris fully develops at 10 months of age, and remains stable throughout your life? Wikipedia describes the iris as:

“…an internal organ that is well protected against damage and wear by a highly transparent and sensitive membrane (the cornea). This distinguishes it from fingerprints, which can be difficult to recognize after years of certain types of manual labor. The iris is mostly flat, and its geometric configuration is only controlled by two complementary muscles (the sphincter pupillae and dilator pupillae) that control the diameter of the pupil. This makes the iris shape far more predictable than, for instance, that of the face.” (via Wikipedia, http://bit.ly/1B8Zlls)

This stability eliminates the need to re-enroll patients as is the case with other biometric patient identification systems that rely on alternate credentials, such as palm vein.

Our experience across a wide variety of healthcare environments with varying conditions has proven that when offered the choice of modalities, more hospitals are turning to iris biometrics for patient identification because of the unique advantages it offers over the alternatives. We expect to see iris biometrics for patient ID continue to proliferate around the world as the single, trusted source to ensure the highest levels of patient safety and to help improve patient data integrity both at the local and national levels.

Watch a short video on the reasons that Terrebonne implemented iris biometrics for patient identification:

What are your thoughts on the use of iris recognition for patient identification in healthcare? Please share your thoughts and comments with us below.

David Cuberos is an Enterprise Sales Consultant with RightPatient® helping hospitals and healthcare organizations realize the benefits of implementing biometrics for patient identification to; increase patient safety, eliminate duplicate medical records and overlays, and prevent medical identity theft and healthcare fraud.

RightPatient® Named Top 40 Innovative Company by Technology Association of Georgia

March 18, 2015/3170 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG /by John Trader

RightPatient® was named a Top 40 Innovative Technology Company by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).

We are delighted to report that RightPatient® was named one of the Top 40 Innovative Technology Company by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). TAG’s Top 40 awards recognize Geogria-based companies for not only their innovation, but also their financial impact and efforts at spreading awareness of Georgia’s technology initiatives throughout the U.S. and globally. The best of the best in Georgia’s technology community, this award is an important benchmark of our innovative and creative technology development to address some of the core patient identification, patient engagement, personalized healthcare, and healthcare intelligence platform needs of the healthcare industry and to reduce costs and liability, improve quality of care, monitor population health, and enhance the patient experience. A link to the news release announcing the award can be found here.

We are inching closer to the release of our healthcare informatics platform that unifies big data and clinical knowledge in healthcare in an unprecedented way to drive personalized health, decision support, and predictive analytics. Built as a global healthcare ecosystem, this smart health platform aggregates data and uses deep learning and predictive analytics to personalize medicine, reduce readmissions, improve outcomes, and drive comparative effectiveness research.

Thank you to TAG for bestowing this award to us, and congratulations to the entire RightPatient® team for their dedication and hard work on all of our solutions!

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

January 14, 2015/4396 views / 3 Comments/in BLOG /by John Trader

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

RightPatients-iris-recognition-is-not-retinal-scanning

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:

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?

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

December 2, 2014/3134 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG /by John Trader

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.

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