Facial Recognition Technology

Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) has several beneficial uses for the healthcare industry. Healthcare professionals can use FRT to identify and validate patients, and prevent mistreatment and fraud. A northern New Jersey area hospital, Atlantic Health, for instance, recently adopted FRT to identify high-risk individuals. The hospital is located in a high-crime neighborhood. It has several entry points to the hospital in order make it accessible; however this increases the risk of entry of high-risk individuals. With the use of FRT, the hospital security cameras can capture images of individuals and recognize threats and alert the hospital staff. The hospital also pays a fee to access several security databases which interface with its FRT to identify individual with a criminal history. FRT also helps the hospital reduce fraud by detecting individuals seeking treatment under false identities.

Sensible Vision, a biometric company specializing in FRT released a product called FastAccess that has been implemented in several hospitals around the country. FastAccess, according tothe company, “replaces a user password with their face, giving healthcare professional, a simple, hands-free way of securely accessing sensitive healthcare records” . Instead of typing in a password repeatedly or through several security checkpoints, the FRT can activate access as long as the person is facing the system, and can lock out the system when they step away.  With the advent of Telemedicine and e-Health programs, FRT can be useful in identifying individuals, both healthcare professionals and individuals seeking treatment. The potential for fraud and abuse is a higher risk for e-Health programs, and FRT can reduce this risk by validating individuals.