Imprivata Highlights Importance of Contactless Biometric Patient ID Solution Amid COVID-19

In a recent post on its website titled “The continued importance of patient identification during COVID-19”, healthcare-focused digital identity company Imprivata highlights the importance of patient identifier data during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The lack of patient identifier data such as phone numbers, addresses, and other critical contact information caused significant delays in notifying patients who tested positive and [tracing] contacts, thwarting the ability to control spread of the disease,” writes the author, Rebecca Slisz, a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Imprivata.

Slisz notes that due to the influx of COVID-19 patients that hospitals around the world are facing, the patient ID process can be challenging, with human typing errors and miscommunication leading to “duplicate medical records and overlay”.

Citing a 2014 report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, she draws attention to the fact that the error rate for mismatched patient records is between 10 and 20 percent within a single healthcare facility, with the range rising to 50 to 60 percent when there is an exchange of information.

The problem of patient identity accuracy predates the COVID-19 outbreak, though the pandemic has exacerbated the issue and highlighted the growing importance of touchless patient identification systems like Imprivata’s PatientSecure biometric palm vein authentication solution, announced just last month in partnership with contactless biometric authentication specialist Keyo.

Contactless healthcare solutions have grown in popularity over the past several months with the COVID-19 pandemic placing greater emphasis on limited-contact ways of recording, tracking, monitoring and treating patients.

Just last week Imprivata announced the hiring of Mark McArdle, a former longtime SVP at security firm McAfee, as its new Senior Vice President of Products and Design, signaling that he will be heading up the biometric patient ID portfolio.

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November 18, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis