“Linking patient identity to fingerprint biometrics can help to ensure that potentially dangerous medicine is only being given to the intended recipients; and on the flip side, it can help to prevent the creation of fraudulent prescriptions for nefarious ends.”

In its latest blog post, IDEX Biometrics has returned to the benefits of biometrics in healthcare, this time with an eye to biometric smart cards in particular.

As the company’s Sales and Marketing VP, David Orme, explains in the post, biometric smart cards offer compelling advantages when used to identify patients. Linking patient identity to fingerprint biometrics can help to ensure that potentially dangerous medicine is only being given to the intended recipients; and on the flip side, it can help to prevent the creation of fraudulent prescriptions for nefarious ends.

This could have a serious impact in the UK, where prescription fraud costs an estimated £25,000,000 per annum, according to Orme.

What’s more, biometric smart cards are, of course, highly portable. That means patients will be able to easily verify their identities at any location, scanning their fingers on their own personal biometric cards when seeking to acquire their prescribed medication.

While IDEX has been strongly focused on the payment applications of its biometric card technology in recent months, this latest blog post reaffirms that there are other market areas the company is exploring as well, especially as biometric technology becomes increasingly mainstream across the board.

Source: IDEX Biometrics