Welcome to EMR and HIPAA

I’ve started looking at purchasing some biometrics throughout my clinic. Here’s my favorite so far:

I really like the DigitalPersona biometrics that I saw at the MISTI HealthSec Conference in San Francisco. My favorite part is that it is integrated with Active Directory so I can set all my group policies and I don’t have to train each workstation on all the fingerprints. It seems like they have a good set of security and management abilities with their active directory implementation.

DigitalPersona sent me some interesting documentation on HIPAA compliancy. I must admit that I think that is mostly marketing. They make some good points on how biometrics can make you more HIPAA compliant, but I think that is due to biometrics and not necessarily tied to the specific company.

Something I’m still interested in learning from them is their ability to integrate with my existing EMR. I still think it would be great to capture a person’s fingerprint using the biometric device and then just matching the fingerprint whenever you need their signature on a consent, referral or some other document you. This type or electronic signature would be very reliable, very secure and yes I can’t wait until we have an electronic signature available. I’m tired of scanning.

I also asked DigitalPersona what kind of features they have for auto logout. I read something(I can’t remember where) that some biometrics have an auto logout feature when you leave the room. Don’t ask me if it is some proximity feature or what, but I’m interested to know what they have in mind.

I also have the Microsoft Biometric Fingerprint Reader(the one with the mouse and login separate). I actually think it is just a DigitalPersona unit with the Microsoft branding. The funny part is that I love the mouse more than the biometrics. I personally can type the password faster than I can fingerprint login. However, considering the number of calls I’ve gotten for users who forgot their password or had caps lock on or just don’t know how to type, I can’t wait for biometrics.

Integrate my EMR and biometrics with active directory and I can finally do what I was suppose to do at work.