Biometric Access Control System – A Must for the Healthcare Industry
Welcome to our 3-part blog series on biometrics in healthcare. In this first post, David Orme, SVP of Sales and Marketing at IDEX Biometrics reveals why biometric access control systems are a must for the healthcare industry.
Biometric access control systems and authentication are imperative for the healthcare industry. They are important from the beginning of a patient’s intake to the processing of outpatient information, providing test results or related information, and everywhere in between.
Patient Intake
Taking biometric data at patient intake and tying that data to a patient’s medical record helps create a secure means of identifying the patient. This also ties all subsequent treatments to each patient with difficult-to-duplicate biometric data. The creation of this type of record on patient intake and verification of this data at each step in the process will ensure that a patient receives the proper treatment. It can reduce errors and save valuable time in instances where time is paramount in addressing a patient’s situation.
Medication Dispensation
Having providers and patients verify information with biometric data ensures that records are trackable and that prescriptions and other medications are properly dispensed to a patient. This can apply in a hospital setting, a doctor’s office or a pharmacy. Verifying that the prescription was ordered by a properly authorized party–as well as picked up by the person who is supposed to receive it–can help reduce fraudulent activity.
Medical Records
Access to medical records can be secured using biometric technology, allowing access to only authorised personnel. This also requires the patient to provide biometric authentication in order to receive data or authorize someone else to receive data. This additional level of security reduces the risk of information being shared with unauthorized parties, and it provides patients with a sense of security in knowing that their personal healthcare data is safe and securely tied to a unique identifier of theirs.
Patient and Provider Safety
One of the key ways that a biometric access control system is of the greatest benefit in the healthcare industry is in ensuring patient and provider safety. Secure areas of a hospital, office or pharmacy are a necessity. Access to these secure areas can be tricky, with the need to balance speed and ease of access with true security. Biometric authentication resolves this easily. With biometric data being difficult to be reproduced or stolen, and the speed with which the unique data can be processed, biometric access control systems provide a higher level of security than the previously relied upon swipe cards or pin codes, both of which can easily be stolen.
Biometric technology in the healthcare sector makes practical sense, and implementing this technology will deliver security improvements. It will help reduce fraud, increase.
