South Florida: Baptist Health hospitals adopt biometrics for patient ID

New hand scanners being used in local hospital to identify patients (First Coast News)

You used to have to give your name, a form of ID, often a social security number when you checked into hospitals, but now all you may need is your palm.

Baptist Health is using new technology now that identifies each patient by the vein pattern in their hand. The technology is called the Palm Vein Biometric Identification System.

The computer stores the patient's vein pattern as a binary number connected to your file, so anywhere you go within the Baptist Health system, you can be identified and your records pulled up by simply scanning your hand.

The Director of Information Services, Jim Bilsky, says the motives behind this new technology is to stop identity theft and ID Card sharing. Also to help identify patients that are brought in unconscious during emergency situations.

This one happens t be about patient ID, but it's hard to think of an identity management challenge hospitals don't have.