Pew Charitable Trusts, RTI International to Study Biometric Patient Record Matching

Nonprofit NGO Pew Charitable Trusts has announced a partnership with research institute RTI International to study the use of biometrics in improving patient medical record matching. The two institutions will work to develop a roadmap that looks into the use of improving patient medical records through the implementation biometric identifiers.

The current practice is to use a patient’s name, address and date of birth to determine whether a patient’s record matches one from an outside organization. Pew and RTI hope to improve the accuracy of this process by introducing biometric authentication.

“Unlike unique numbers or ID cards, a patient can’t forget or lose track of his or her fingerprints, and a facial scan doesn’t rely on a patient being responsive when wheeled into the emergency department,” Pew wrote in a post announcing the partnership.

The organizations plan to conduct research on the matter through 2021, during which policies will be developed to address the issues of privacy and technical concerns associated with the use of biometrics.

Privacy in particular is a growing concern in the biometrics field, as an individual’s biometric data that is captured and stored can be used to identify them without their knowledge.

In addition to identifying and developing privacy guidelines and standards, Pew and RTI will need to determine how data will be shared and compared across health systems, and what support will be needed to implement the new system both in facilities and on mobile devices.

Source: Becker Hospital Review

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February 21, 2020 – by Tony Bitzionis