Fujitsu PalmSecure™ and HT Systems’ PatientSecure Selected by BayCare Health System to Protect Patient Confidentiality and Prevent Medical Identity Theft

Award-winning Palm Vein Recognition Devices Helps BayCare Accurately Identify Patients, Uphold Integrity of Electronic Medical Records and Safeguard Patient Privacy

Sunnyvale, CA. — Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., a leading supplier of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and biometric security solutions, today announced that BayCare Health System, the largest full-service health care system in the Tampa, Fla. area, is using the Fujitsu PalmSecure™ palm vein authentication devices as a part of its patient registration and identification process. HT Systems’ PatientSecure integrates Fujitsu PalmSecure with Siemens Invision and Signature Hospital Information Systems, to provide comprehensive patient identification management software that provides BayCare with a highly accurate, non-intrusive verification method for effectively identifying patients. The combined solution helps protect patient privacy, safeguard Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), help to prevent medical identify theft and enables patients to receive care more efficiently.

“BayCare is committed to advancing superior health care for our patients and their families. This includes our move to Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), which requires an enhanced identification system to ensure that this information is contained in one complete record,” said Jim Schwamb, vice president, patient financial services, BayCare. “Rather than having our patients fill out multiple forms or having to reveal their social security number, we leverage PatientSecure integrated with PalmSecure and are able to validate each patient’s identity and protect their privacy more quickly and efficiently.”

Fujitsu PalmSecure uses a near infrared light to capture a patient’s palm vein pattern, generating a unique biometric template that is matched against a database of enrolled users’ palm vein patterns. This advanced, vascular pattern recognition technology provides a highly reliable type of authentication—PalmSecure’s false acceptance ratio is just 0.00008 percent—in a form factor that is non-intrusive, easy to use and generates extremely fast comparisons. HT Systems’ PatientSecure solution provides the critical link between the biometric data and the existing Electronic Medical Records (EMR), allowing hospital staff to quickly access the EMR, insuring the right care is given to the right patient and preventing medical identity theft.

The combined solution enables BayCare to provide prompt and accurate patient identification. By doing so, BayCare is protecting patient’s privacy while simultaneously accelerating patient identification without the use of sensitive information or usage of identification at all. In addition, in emergency situations, BayCare can identify patients even if they are confused or unconscious. “The ability to identify John or Jane Doe’s is a powerful feature, especially during the summer months when children are out from school,” says David Wiener, vice president, corporate VP of sales, HT Systems. “In addition, it allows BayCare to be one of the few hospitals that complies with The Joint Commission’s number one Patient Safety Goal, which is to ‘Improve the accuracy of patient identification’. ¹”

With the seamless integration into their Siemens Invision and Signature systems, BayCare is able to stop duplicate medical records from being created. Since only one medical record can be linked to a single palm vein pattern, the patients essentially retrieve their own medical record with the palm of their hand. Not only does this keep the patient’s medical record secure, but reduces the cost associated with managing the combining of duplicated medical records. “By incorporating PalmSecure coupled with PatientSecure into the patient registration process, BayCare has demonstrated its commitment to its patients by assuring them that their privacy is protected, their records will remain safe and their identification will not delay care because of an identification issue,” said Joel Hagberg, vice president, marketing and business development, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. “PalmSecure is an ideal, cost-effective solution for forward-thinking organizations like BayCare that want to deploy the most accurate biometric identification system available today.”

PalmSecure is currently deployed at four of BayCare’s hospitals and several outpatient centers. In the first month, more than 3,300 patients enrolled, and their response has been overwhelmingly positive—99 percent have elected to enroll when given the opportunity. BayCare plans to roll out PalmSecure to all nine of its hospitals, as well as its 11 outpatient centers, by the end of October 2008. When fully deployed, BayCare expects that more than one million patients will enroll within the first two years.