A Family Member HomeCare, A Pembroke Pines Home Health Care Agency, Notes Sun-Sentinel Report: Hospitals embrace high-tech security
Biometrics speed admissions and reduce mistakes while cutting fraud and ID theft
Yadira Suarez has her palm scanned during registration at Memorial Regional Hospital Miramar on Thursday. She was at the hospital with Jesus Gonzalez to deliver her twin babies. (Amy Beth Bennett, Sun Sentinel / September 1, 2011)
September 4, 2011
www.SunSentinel.com
The next time a hospital official asks to look into your eyes, it might not be your health he's checking.
In South Florida and across the nation, hospitals are implementing high tech biometrics technology to speed up the admission process, reduce errors and add a layer of security in an age where insurance fraud and identity theft is a serious problem.
They include such things as palm readers, iris scanners and voice recognition systems, which are methods to recognize a person based on unique biological characteristics and patterns, according to companies that create the technology.
These systems help locate patient records and log them into electronic files. It can also track who is looking at sensitive information stored in hospitals and cut down on patients pretending to be someone else to dodge a bill.
"The advantage is that it prevents some lunatic from walking in off the street with someone else's identity,'' said Dr. Fred Valdes, of Hollywood, whose palm was recently scanned at Memorial Hospital Miramar.
To prevent errors and enhance security, some hospitals, such as Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, require new moms and their babies to wear bracelets with their photos attached to barcodes. When they leave, the bar codes must match so the family is "as safe as possible," said Lisa Kronhaus, director of public relations and marketing.
Others medical centers have finger scanners that only allow authorized workers to access certain records. The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach is considering incorporating face recognition programs in the future.
"In the case of hospitals, there is a lot of private patient data that you don't want to fall in the wrong hands,'' said Dr. Anil Jain, distinguished professor in the computer science department at Michigan State University.
South Florida has had its share of medical fraud and identity theft. In April, a former emergency room clerk at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale was sentenced to two years in federal prison for selling patients' personal information to a South Florida identity-theft ring. She admitted copying documents containing patients' addresses, ages and Social Security numbers and passing them along for cash.
In February of last year, a man was charged with using a fake name to receive more than $106,000 in medical care at Boca Raton Community Hospital. Police later found the social security number he had provided belonged to an Arizona resident.
At Memorial patients have the right to decline having their palms scanned. But there is rarely any resistance from residents.
Bernadette Lopez, director of pre-services at Memorial, said the system has decreased the number of people looking to use someone else's insurance card or assume someone else's identity.
The system costs the tax-assisted hospital district about $150,000 annually to maintain.
"It's like airport security; we know it's part of our lives.'' said Kerting Baldwin, director of media relations.
Those who ask the most questions tend to be lawyers and police officers, Lopez said.
Experts say we can expect to see more of these and other high-tech gadgets, especially since they're becoming less expensive and easier to intergrate with existing security systems.
For example, In New York, the Urban Health Plan clinic in the Bronx began using iris scanners about two years ago to cut down on mistaken identities. The clinic is in a majority Hispanic area, where many of the clients didn't' speak English.
When a patient visits a clinic employee scans their eyes using a handheld camera. Within seconds, the camera reads the patient's iris patterns, and a computer locates their medical record.
But Jain said patients still have to warm up to the idea of having their eye scanned for record keeping reasons. Plus, he said, iris scanners tend to be more expensive and, "it takes longer. People have to get used to opening their eyes and standing in front of [it],'' he said.
In addition to cutting down on fraud, technology can be used to assist patients trying to access information remotely.
At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach, a veteran's voice can be used to access information over the phone about treatment. Now the center is researching how to use face recognition programs as it expands it services over the Internet and teleconferencing.
"A lot of the time patients have chronic diseases so they have travel limitation,'' said facilities coordinator Dan Dwyer. "These would make it easier for them to interact with their healthcare provider and health care team without having to travel great distances or even leave their homes.''
Still, some face recognition programs can be problematic, said Jain, because they can be very sensitive to changes in lighting and modified facial expressions.
"Matching can be difficult. It depends on the pose and the expression,'' he said.
Over at MD Now Urgent Care walk-in clinic, which has six locations in Palm Beach County, patients have their photo ID's scanned into the system which is attached to their electronic files. They don't use any biometrics yet and Dr. Peter Lamelas, CEO of the MD Now said there are no plans to do so in the near future.
Lamelas said the current system in place works
"Sometimes science fiction is ahead of science fact,'' said Lamelas. "It takes a while for the real life application to catch up.''
Geast@tribune.com or 954-572-2078.
In South Florida and across the nation, hospitals are implementing high tech biometrics technology to speed up the admission process, reduce errors and add a layer of security in an age where insurance fraud and identity theft is a serious problem.
They include such things as palm readers, iris scanners and voice recognition systems, which are methods to recognize a person based on unique biological characteristics and patterns, according to companies that create the technology.
These systems help locate patient records and log them into electronic files. It can also track who is looking at sensitive information stored in hospitals and cut down on patients pretending to be someone else to dodge a bill.
"The advantage is that it prevents some lunatic from walking in off the street with someone else's identity,'' said Dr. Fred Valdes, of Hollywood, whose palm was recently scanned at Memorial Hospital Miramar.
To prevent errors and enhance security, some hospitals, such as Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, require new moms and their babies to wear bracelets with their photos attached to barcodes. When they leave, the bar codes must match so the family is "as safe as possible," said Lisa Kronhaus, director of public relations and marketing.
Others medical centers have finger scanners that only allow authorized workers to access certain records. The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach is considering incorporating face recognition programs in the future.
"In the case of hospitals, there is a lot of private patient data that you don't want to fall in the wrong hands,'' said Dr. Anil Jain, distinguished professor in the computer science department at Michigan State University.
South Florida has had its share of medical fraud and identity theft. In April, a former emergency room clerk at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale was sentenced to two years in federal prison for selling patients' personal information to a South Florida identity-theft ring. She admitted copying documents containing patients' addresses, ages and Social Security numbers and passing them along for cash.
In February of last year, a man was charged with using a fake name to receive more than $106,000 in medical care at Boca Raton Community Hospital. Police later found the social security number he had provided belonged to an Arizona resident.
At Memorial patients have the right to decline having their palms scanned. But there is rarely any resistance from residents.
Bernadette Lopez, director of pre-services at Memorial, said the system has decreased the number of people looking to use someone else's insurance card or assume someone else's identity.
The system costs the tax-assisted hospital district about $150,000 annually to maintain.
"It's like airport security; we know it's part of our lives.'' said Kerting Baldwin, director of media relations.
Those who ask the most questions tend to be lawyers and police officers, Lopez said.
Experts say we can expect to see more of these and other high-tech gadgets, especially since they're becoming less expensive and easier to intergrate with existing security systems.
For example, In New York, the Urban Health Plan clinic in the Bronx began using iris scanners about two years ago to cut down on mistaken identities. The clinic is in a majority Hispanic area, where many of the clients didn't' speak English.
When a patient visits a clinic employee scans their eyes using a handheld camera. Within seconds, the camera reads the patient's iris patterns, and a computer locates their medical record.
But Jain said patients still have to warm up to the idea of having their eye scanned for record keeping reasons. Plus, he said, iris scanners tend to be more expensive and, "it takes longer. People have to get used to opening their eyes and standing in front of [it],'' he said.
In addition to cutting down on fraud, technology can be used to assist patients trying to access information remotely.
At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach, a veteran's voice can be used to access information over the phone about treatment. Now the center is researching how to use face recognition programs as it expands it services over the Internet and teleconferencing.
"A lot of the time patients have chronic diseases so they have travel limitation,'' said facilities coordinator Dan Dwyer. "These would make it easier for them to interact with their healthcare provider and health care team without having to travel great distances or even leave their homes.''
Still, some face recognition programs can be problematic, said Jain, because they can be very sensitive to changes in lighting and modified facial expressions.
"Matching can be difficult. It depends on the pose and the expression,'' he said.
Over at MD Now Urgent Care walk-in clinic, which has six locations in Palm Beach County, patients have their photo ID's scanned into the system which is attached to their electronic files. They don't use any biometrics yet and Dr. Peter Lamelas, CEO of the MD Now said there are no plans to do so in the near future.
Lamelas said the current system in place works
"Sometimes science fiction is ahead of science fact,'' said Lamelas. "It takes a while for the real life application to catch up.''
Geast@tribune.com or 954-572-2078.
Copyright © 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
For more information about a Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County home health care agency for seniors and other family members, contact Brian Gauthier at A Family Member HomeCare (954) 986-5090 or www.afamilymemberhomecare.com. Serving Coconut Creek Cooper City Coral Springs Dania Beach Davie Deerfield Beach Fort Lauderdale Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach Hollywood Lauderdale Lakes Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Lauderhill Lazy Lake Lighthouse Point Margate Miramar North Lauderdale Oakland Park Parkland Pembroke Park Pembroke Pines Plantation Pompano Beach Sea Ranch Lakes Southwest Ranches Sunrise Tamarac Weston Wilton Manors Aventura Sunny Isles Beach Hialeah Miami Lakes Boca Raton Delray Beach.
For more information about a Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County home health care agency for seniors and other family members, contact Brian Gauthier at A Family Member HomeCare (954) 986-5090 or www.afamilymemberhomecare.com. Serving Coconut Creek Cooper City Coral Springs Dania Beach Davie Deerfield Beach Fort Lauderdale Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach Hollywood Lauderdale Lakes Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Lauderhill Lazy Lake Lighthouse Point Margate Miramar North Lauderdale Oakland Park Parkland Pembroke Park Pembroke Pines Plantation Pompano Beach Sea Ranch Lakes Southwest Ranches Sunrise Tamarac Weston Wilton Manors Aventura Sunny Isles Beach Hialeah Miami Lakes Boca Raton Delray Beach.
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