Smart card vendors pitch healthcare pilots

Boosted by Microsoft, which is including support for smart card security in Vista, vendors got together last week to promote smart card use in healthcare and government. In a session last week at the Smart Card Alliance annual meeting in San Diego, Microsoft senior program manager Shivaram Mysore contended that smart cards are a great solution for many network and desktop security problems, given their secure storage and strong authentication capabilities. Apparently MS already drinks the Kool Aid, as its own 100,000 employees already use smart cards for IT security.

In addition to highlighting the smart card work of a myriad of government agencies, including the Department of State, GSA Shared Services and several state and local government organizations, the conference shined a spotlight on pilot smart card programs at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and Southeast Texas Health System. Both organizations are using smart card technology to simplify access to clinical information; Mount Sinai is also looking to smart cards to positively identify patients and reduce fraud (STHS exec Shannon Calhoun called the approach "exceptionally inexpensive"). Mount Sinai, along with fellow New York hospital Elmhurst Hospital Center, is working with Siemens Communications to deploy the cards.

For more smart card updates:
- check out this release from the Smart Card Alliance