Florida Hospital Takes Biometrics by the Hand

Florida Hospital Zephyrhills (FHZ) has decided to embrace biometrics for patient identification, with Imprivata’s PatientSecure platform.

Already in use in hundreds of hospitals, PatientSecure links hospital patients to their electronic health records via a biometric profile based on infrared palm vein scanning. It’s a system that not only cuts through administrative paperwork and clutter, but can also be an important benefit in patient care by allowing doctors to quickly identify patients even if they are unconscious or otherwise unresponsive. It can also help to fight fraud.

As FHZ Chief Nursing Officer Gwen Alonso, RN, explained in a statement announcing the integration of PatientSecure, the biometric technology “streamlines the registration process by automatically pulling up a patient’s record, provides added protection from medical identity theft, and ensures each patient is correctly linked to their unique medical record.”

The deployment reflects the rising prominence of such biometric identification systems in hospitals, especially as healthcare providers adjust to electronic health records and the attendant administrative regulations.

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September 9, 2016 – by Alex Perala