Geisinger Health is using a biometric technology to check in patients with just a photo of their face.
Matt Henry, associate director on the health information technology team and program owner of the biometrics project, said the pilot program is intended to reduce misidentification and contact with staff for safety in cases of infectious disease. It also allows the patient to say less private information out loud in a public area.
"With the reduction in misidentified patients in emergency departments in the future, you end up having better outcomes because of accurate charts," Henry said.
In recent years, more hospitals and health centers have begun contemplating biometric technology as a more efficient and accurate way to match patients with their medical records.
A 2016 survey by the Ponemon Institute found that 64% of healthcare workers say patients are misidentified either very frequently or all the time due to duplicate records, registration issues and other human errors.
Molly Murray, senior manager of the Pew Charitable Trusts' health information technology project, said Geisinger's pilot program will be "a great case study" for how biometrics can be used on a broader level in the healthcare industry.
She said while most facilities only use biometric systems internally, there is potential for providers to use biometric algorithms to match patients across various organizations.
Because it is possible for different patients to share the same first and last name and birth date, some medical facilities identify patients by scanning their hands, finger prints, eyes or faces for their unique biometric information.
At Geisinger's Jersey Shore Hospital, Lycoming, Medical Clinic Lock Haven and Women's Health Lewisburg locations, patients can have their picture taken to enroll in the biometric identification program.
Once a patient is enrolled in the program, all they have to do to check in is state their name and have their photo taken, which Henry said works well even with accessories like glasses or a baseball hat.
He said while patients can opt out of the voluntary biometrics program at any time, the response to the pilot has been largely positive.
So far, more than 5,600 Geisinger patients from the four locations have enrolled in the biometric check-in since the option became available on March 9, an enrollment rate of around 76%.
"We have a very small amount of folks who are concerned about data privacy," Henry said. "The information is encrypted, both in transit and when it's stored on the servers. It's accessible for Geisinger only."
According to a 2020 survey by Pew, 53% of 1,213 respondents said they are either somewhat or very comfortable with healthcare providers using facial photos as a form of identification.
In 2016, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center began using fingerprint scanners, and in 2018 Northwell Health unveiled its biometric technology in the form of iris and facial recognition software.
To incorporate facial biometrics into existing electronic health records and administrative systems, Geisinger is partnering with Certify Health, which works to simplify patient authentication.
Henry said in the future, there is a lot of opportunity to integrate this technology into kiosks and improve the identification workflow by identifying trauma patients and patients prior to a surgery.
Following the program's pilot, Geisinger plans to make biometric facial check in available at every location in the health system.
