Fighting fraud with biometrics: Medicare's blind spot?

This past summer I went to Sea World San Diego with my family. We decided to buy the season tickets. I was amazed that when we entered the gates for the first time as a season ticket holders, they scanned our thumb prints. It makes sense. Its probably a great deterrent. Anyone who gets scanned is probably a lot less likely to share their season pass with others.

No, it does not make enough sense to initiate this plan. There are, as you mentioned, the cost of the readers, also the training of the personnel, the failures due to lotion on hands, etc and then the infection control issues. These readers, touching the hands of each patient, would have to be adequately disinfected between each patient. Right now, the signature of a patient or caretaker along with the current accreditation movement will provide similar outcomes for reduction of fraud without the increased cost of hardware, training and risk issues. No system will ever be perfect if humans are involved.

I would note that CMS has not received one penny in additional funding for program integrity work since 2003, it is highly unlikely that something like this would be feasible given that Congress will probably not pass any additional funding this year again.

How would this work for a DME company that has no physical contact with the patient?

Better identification of both staff and patients can significantly reduce fraud and medical errors, and ensure patient privacy. Ultimately, biometrics are the best and simplest way to get an accurate ID every time, so this is where our health care system will be going. However, selecting the right biometric is critical to success. Fingerprint technology is primarily useful as a law enforcement tool and has performed poorly in clinical environments, for the reasons mentioned in previous comments and other reasons. Iris identification, using a digital camera that takes a picture of the colored ring in your eye, is more accurate than fingerprints, works while wearing gloves and masks, is sanitary with no physical contact, and doesn't have the "big brother" aspect of fingerprinting. Iris ID systems have been used in expensive airport security and passport control systems for the last 10 years with zero errors. These newer biometric technologies are moving rapidly into healthcare facilities. Earlier this year, for example, Eye Controls released a low-cost clinical iris ID system called SafeMatch that uses the same core technology as the expensive airport systems. Health care ID errors, whether caused by fraud or mistake, cost money and harm patients, and available biometric tools can help solve these problems, make operations more efficient, and protect the privacy of patient records.

I would have to comment that touching a fingerprint sensor isn't going to have any more health concerns than picking up and using the pen that everyone uses to sign in on the clipboard, touching the door handle to enter the doctors office or picking up and reading the magazines in the waiting room.

FACTS:
1) My laptop came with a fingerprint reader and I love the fact that my data is secure and I don't have to constantly remember what my password is.
2) The everyday consumer can buy a USB fingerprint reader for less than $50! So it stands to reason that HealthCare Agencies can use their buying leverage to purchase at even lower prices.
3) I read a story about a woman in California who had 3 babies in one year. Actually she didn’t – but her health insurance paid for 3 births in one year. We are all paying extra for this fraud.

So biometrics offers- convenience, accuracy and fraud reduction (translating to lower prices for the consumer)
Sounds like a “no brainer” to me!