Improved Patient Care With Advanced Biometrics

Fast, Efficient and Compliant Verification for Healthcare

Biometric authentication is already widely used as a secure, compliant and simple way to authenticate medical staff and clinicians. Still, many medical facilities rely on bar code ID bracelets to identify patients, which are inexpensive but can be easily swapped or duplicated. With an increased need to combat identity theft fueled by rising costs and insurance fraud, hospital administrators are seeking more comprehensive and secure solutions.

Biometric technology is a more sophisticated and hassle-free way to identify patients, but there are unique challenges to implementing it in healthcare environments.

For one, hospitals serve diverse populations — patients come in all different ages and ethnicities that inherently challenge biometric sensors to effectively obtain good images. Hospitals are also kept cool and dry and use disinfectant soap that further contributes to dry skin, creating additional difficultly for most fingerprint readers. Finally, healthcare involves time-sensitive and patient-critical situations, requiring any biometric solution to detect a user quickly, consistently and without doubt.

Multi-spectral imaging technology, like that powering HID Lumidigm® fingerprint readers, addresses all of the unique challenges presented by the healthcare industry. Multi-spectral imaging collects data on a user’s sub-surface fingerprint (in addition to the visible fingerprint) and it does so even if the skin is wet, dry or otherwise has poor contact with the sensor.

Besides patient identification, there are many opportunities to improve patient care and security by utilizing advanced biometrics, including:

• Ensuring that the right dosage of medicine is being dispensed to the right patient
• Limiting and tracking access to commonly stolen medicines (like opioids and amphetamines) via smart locks on cabinets or storage areas
• Compliance with Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances (EPCS) requirements

Biometrics provide fast, efficient identity verification that keeps patients safe and lets healthcare providers quickly get on with their life-saving work — all while staying in compliance.

Interested in learning more about multi-spectral imaging? Watch this short video explaining how it works.