Verification of patients in the health sector
Remote patient verification is taking off. Hospitals, health centers, medical research organizations, and even pharmaceutical companies, rely on this digital tool to keep their data safe.
Join us to better understand the challenges of the health sector and how digital identity verification of patients can mitigate risks.
What challenges does online healthcare face?
As in most entities or companies in the process of digitizing, cybersecurity is a priority concern for digital healthcare providers. However, for the latter the reasons to worry are multiplied because personal medical data has a lot of value.
Cybercriminals know that stealing personal data from patients is a gold mine and they are going for it . We are talking about personal records that contain full name, address, history, bank details, social security number, etc.
The most dangerous healthcare challenges are:
- Identity theft and data breaches
- Medical identity theft
- Medication dispensing fraud
- Errors diagnosis
- Duplicate records
- Payment fraud
- Penalties for health care providers who don’t comply with data protection regulations
- Difficulty sharing patient records securely between centers
How can fraud risks be addressed?
Hospitals and medical centers that integrate remote health need to be prepared to add new action protocols in the digital world. These operations must be accompanied by solid authentication and identity verification processes. Otherwise, other potential risks will arise, such as data breaches, which will be accompanied by reputational crises and, of course, economic losses (not counting the sanctions that this type of incident entails).
To combat the risk of fraud and identity theft, it is necessary to securely protect patient information. Digital identity verification allows to confirm the true identity of users. It is essential to check that the patients who use certain medical services are the owners of the associated medical account to avoid identity theft or misuse of medical services.
Verifying the identity of patients in advance will help consolidate a database of legitimate users and therefore reduce the risks of fraud. This is the only way to ensure that only authorized people have access to data and profile.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that the authentication of the users must be bidirectional, either for the doctor to access the history of the patients and for the patient himself to access his user portal.
Why should patients be checked?
Verifying patients means opening doors to the right users, both inside and outside the hospital.
It is recommended to verify patients for three main reasons:
- Because it protects patient data
- Because it improves the organization’s patient records (facilitating the exchange of information between centers)
- Because it guarantees the claims of insurance
What is patient verification?
Wait a minute! We are talking about verifying patients remotely and it may not be clear to you what this process consists of. It’s very simple.
Verifying a patient consists of confirming that they are who they say they are.
Imagine I find a health insurance card on the street and I go to a hospital with it. If the hospital does NOT verify my identity, they would NOT realize that this card is NOT mine and I could misuse the services contracted by another person (who would be charged for my consultations).
As in person at a hospital, during the online registration of a new patient in a medical center with the option of remote consultation, the center must ask for the identity card of all its patients to confirm that the person in question (the patient) is using their own identity.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, the technology performs this check remotely and automatically. It only takes a selfie and a screenshot of the identity document to verify the identity of a person.
Write us at LinkedIn if you have questions.
Benefits of identity verification in the health sector
The benefits of verifying patients digitally for the first time and then authenticate their identities when they access information point in two directions. As we mentioned, due to the sensitive nature of the data, identity verification must be carried out inside and outside the centers, that is, to staff and patients.
In this way, we differentiate benefits for the care centers or providers and for the patients or users of the services:
For the centers
- Prevents fraud and protects personal data
The main value provided by identity verification in the health sector is that it is a barrier against fraud. That is, it serves as a prevention of fraudulent attacks.
In the first place, because the identity of the people is confirmed before they become patients, so an initial trust filter is already established (non-legitimate users, who are not using their identity, don’t overcome this obstacle).
In addition, the identity of patients and staff is authenticated through facial recognition to access any procedure, which guarantees that the data is confidential and secure, without unauthorized users having access.
And, of course, passwords are eliminated and the biometric characteristics of users (unique to each individual and much more complex to replicate) are opted for.
- Information access control
Digital identity verification solutions facilitate access to user health records and histories in the fastest and most secure way.
Not only to improve treatment with patients, but also for purposes of planning, improvement, research and personalization of services.
- Claims and insurance management
Claims and insurance management are usually tedious in any center because they involve the action of an intermediary.
In this sense, the verification of the identity of patients provides hospitals and clinics with an efficient and reliable system to check insurance memberships, as well as the use of certain services in the event of a claim. In this way, implementing patient verification allows to speed up this type of management, since users can demonstrate that they have access to insurance immediately without having to wait for the insurance to approve or validate benefits/services.
- Reduce manual tasks
Identity verification in hospitals and health centers translates into the automation of manual tasks that do not imply value for the institution.
It is, therefore, an optimization of resources, which allows that the staff of the center be oriented to tasks that do report some benefit, either for the patients or for the entity.
- Compliant with regulations
In addition to protecting the privacy and security of medical records and patient data, identity verification in the health sector allows them to comply with relevant regulations and avoid sanctions, reputation problems, breach risks, etc.
For patients
- Fast and convenient registration
As in any other type of procedure, patients in medical centers want agility. Having the digital option to register for the first time and modify own data makes it easier for them and, therefore, improves the customer experience.
- Secure information
More and more users prioritize those brands and entities that take care of their data. As we have been reiterating, digital identity verification eliminates the risks of fraud and prevents identity theft because it is a protection measure that keeps patient data safe.
If you’re looking for a patient verification provider that knows what they’re doing, we can help.
