Today, LifeMed ID has announced that its patient identification solution has been implemented at Mid Coast Health Services in Brunswick, Maine. As is the case with patient ID, the end goal here is efficiency and fraud prevention. With LifeMed ID’s solution, access operations become automated, duplicate record making is eliminated and patients are tied to their health records.
“The economic value is very positive,” says Mid Coast Health Services’ IT director Gale Stoy, “registration time was cut from four minutes to one minute. We are issuing an average of 500 smart cards daily, significantly diminishing the amount of time needed by our people to enter, update, and cleanse patient information.”
A HIPAA compliant technology, LifeMed ID uses multiple devices to keep patients connected to their electronic health records (EHR). Drivers licenses, smart cards, facial recognition, iris biometrics and palm vein scanning are all on the table for use.
“We also know the last time the patient information was updated, when they were seen, and the last time their insurance was checked,” continues Stoy. “For Medicare patients, insurance information can change weekly. The system provides the patient’s insurance eligibility along with co-pay. By having patient information upfront and the ability to connect patients with the right record, the billing downstream is accurate. It is all about the patient, patient satisfaction, and patient safety.”
Twenty clinics and a 92 bed hospital make up Mid Coast Health Services. A network that large is greatly benefitted by secure cloud technology, allowing access to the same up-to-date patient records at every point of care.
“The Mid Coast implementation exemplifies how innovative thinking can improve patient safety, reduce operating costs, and lower risk to both the patient and the healthcare provider,” says LifeMed ID CEO David Batchelor. “The LifeMed ID technology provides operational efficiencies in the front end authentication of patient identity by automating patient access workflow and providing bidirectional integration with CPSI and other HIS systems.”
As a growing application of identity management technology in healthcare, EHR and patient management systems can reach beyond efficiency and fraud prevention. Deployments of VaxTrac, for instance, overcome language and literacy barriers in international vaccination initiatives. Another example of innovative thinking in this regard is KinderGuardian, an opt-in initiative from M2SYS that is in place to fight against child abduction.
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July 14, 2014 – by Peter B. Counter
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