CERTIFY Health Provides Biometric Patient Identification System for Geisinger

CERTIFY Health is now providing biometric patient identification for the Geisinger health network in Pennsylvania. Geisinger’s network includes nine hospitals, two research clinics, and a school of medicine, and runs a health plan with upwards of 500,000 members.

The partnership with CERTIFY specifically concerns the company’s positive patient identification (PPID) system, which uses facial recognition to verify the identities of patients. The CERTIFY PPID solution has already been installed at three Geisinger locations, and will eventually make its way to the rest of the venues in the network.

Geisinger is hoping that facial recognition will help streamline its check-in procedures, with a system that minimizes a patient’s chances of being misidentified. To that end, patients will be asked to register their faces when they arrive for their next appointment. The template will then be stored as part of their electronic medical record, giving Geisinger the ability to verify their identity with a follow-up scan during subsequent visits.

In that regard, the CERTIFY PPID solution is fully integrated with Geisinger’s current electronic health record (EHR) platform. It is also integrated with the organization’s administrative systems to authenticate Geisinger employees in addition to Geisinger patients.  

Geisinger provides medical care for roughly 1 million patients in total. Of those, more than 4,000 have already enrolled in the facial recognition system, and that number is expected to increase rapidly as the system expands.

Biometric authentication will help mitigate the threat of healthcare fraud, which (along with misidentification) can create considerable financial liabilities for healthcare organizations. CERTIFY Health’s Care platform offers support for fingerprint, palm, and retina biometrics in addition to facial recognition, all of which is delivered through a partnership with AuthX.

CERTIFY is not the only company using biometrics to simplify the patient identification process. Imprivata’s PatientSecure system recognizes patients with contactless palm vein recognition, while Credence ID has provided biometric identification tech for Senegal’s Ministry of Health.

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June 8, 2021 – by Eric Weiss