Florida bill requiring biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns
Florida House Bill 1299, sponsored by Rep. Dane Eagle, has a provision that would require Florida hospitals to install software that allows them to use biometrics and the state driver’s license database to verify Medicaid patients identification, according to a report by the St. Augustine Record.
Medicaid is a social health care program for families and individuals with low income and limited resources.
When the bill came up for a vote last month in the House Children, Families and Seniors Subcommittee, Rep. Amanda Murphy proposed an amendment that would have struck the requirement that hospitals use biometrics to confirm the identity of Medicaid patients and questioned why a simple barcode scan of a person’s identification card wasn’t acceptable. The amendment did not pass.
The Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida have also expressed concerns saying that hospitals already use a variety of systems to confirm patient identity and requiring software that ties into the state driver’s license database was too restrictive.
University of Florida Health Jacksonville has an “elective admission” policy that allows patients to keep a copy of their photo identification in their medical records but current government regulations prevent hospitals from making patients show photo ID to be treated in the emergency room. “We have looked into biometric identification but there are several challenges, among them the cost and government regulations,” said UF Health spokesman Daniel Leveton.
According to the report, bill sponsor Eagle doesn’t know how much it will cost hospitals to implement the technology, if the state will help pay for this service and he doesn’t have information about how much stolen identities cost the $25 billion Medicaid program.
The House bill needs to be approved by two more committees before it is ready for a floor vote.
Article Topics
biometrics | Florida | healthcare | identity verification | patient identification | privacy
Comments
13 Replies to “Florida bill requiring biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Florida bill requiring #biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/a6GBWybt03
Florida bill requiring biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/OA43QzcN1u
Florida bill requiring #biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/RtfAXzA7ZL via @biometricupdate
RT @BiometricUpdate: Florida bill requiring #biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/stzZJOcwQt
RT @BiometricUpdate: Florida bill requiring #biometrics for patient #identity #verification raises concerns https://t.co/oG2gCmsYpK
Florida bill requiring biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/N55oB3eEWH #biometrics #feedly
Florida bill requiring biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns | BiometricUpdate https://t.co/giMwnXkmbR #biometrics
RT @BiometricUpdate: FL bill requiring #biometrics for patient #identity #verification raises concerns https://t.co/1zUabKGJ5k #healthcare
RT @BiometricUpdate: Florida bill requiring #biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/ORExWvQBwe
RT @rawlsonking2: RT @BiometricUpdate: Florida bill requiring #biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns https://t.co/OR…
Florida bill requiring biometrics for patient identity verification raises concerns @PaulDube https://t.co/dY8DoyD0R3
Florida proposes #biometric patient identification in healthcare https://t.co/gvosi12s8e
Florida bill would require #biometrics for #Medicaid patients. #Biometrics for the poor only is bad news https://t.co/Neyp20yxlQ #biometrics