Sentara Healthcare integrates Imprivata biometric patient identification technology

Over a century old Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, Virginia, is now using biometric palm vein identity authentication to connect over 750,000 patients, in varying medical states, to their medical records in different electronic health record systems, writes Healthcare IT News.

The institution was struggling with a growing number of patients and needed a solution to manage patient identification accurately and fast. Sentara partnered with Imprivata, a U.S.-based healthcare security company that develops biometric solutions for secure access to applications and patient identification. In this case, Sentara went with Imprivata PatientSecure, a palm vein recognition solution that identifies patients by generating a biometric identifies and retrieves their digital health records.

“Additionally, it addresses downstream problems and costs associated with duplicate medical records, overlays and lost revenue,” explained Tara Slone, IT product manager at Sentara Healthcare. “Patients expect a safe experience and want to be assured that medical decisions are being made based on their information. PatientSecure is a perfect solution to help achieve this.”

Sentara integrated PatientSecure with its Epic EHR record to assign a unique link between the patient and their medical records.

“Once enrolled, patients who return to any Sentara site need only scan their palm to identify themselves and bring up their correct medical record,” said Slone. “Registrars simply need to have the patient scan their palm and their medical record is quickly and accurately accessed.”

So far, over 750,000 have been enrolled in the system with over 2 million authentications, accounting for multiple visits made by patients in the location.

“We strive to make a meaningful impact on patients by personalizing and improving their experience and simplifying access to their health,” said Slone. “Patients can be identified when they are unconscious or unable to speak. In one case, a patient arrived while having a stroke, unable to identify himself. The ER nurses used the Trauma Search function of PatientSecure to identify the patient and confidently provide the proper care.”

In April, Imprivata signed a partnership with Verato to integrate PatientSecure with Verato Universal MPI to provide healthcare organizations with unprecedented accuracy in identifying patients.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  healthcare  |  Imprivata  |  palm vein  |  patient identification