Alliance Outlines Need For Smart Card-Based Healthcare Identity Management Infrastructure Leveraging Existing Federal Standards

Government policy makers and healthcare stakeholders looking to establish electronic medical records (EMRs) to improve the U.S. healthcare system should look first to defining the identity management infrastructure for securely identifying patients, medical providers and anyone else handling the records, stated the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare and Identity Councils in a position paper issued recently. To this end, the Councils recommend the use of existing federal standards for smart cards to create a trusted identity management infrastructure.

The passing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and HITECH Act gave impetus for the Smart Card Alliance to create the paper to elevate the discussion about identity management before the federal government begins to invest over $19 billion in healthcare information technology. This investment will provide significant incentives for healthcare providers to implement EMR systems over the next five years. The Alliance argues that these plans that emphasize electronic health record exchange are putting the cart before the horse, and effective identity management is needed first.

“As we move away from paper-based medical records that are controlled by physical access to buildings, rooms, and files, we need to have a healthcare infrastructure that supports strong identity and security controls,” said Paul Contino, chair of the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council and vice president of information technology with Mount Sinai Medical Center “The issues with establishing identity are compounded as electronic medical records are used by many different organizations at the regional, state, and national levels. There must be a way to uniquely and securely authenticate each person across the healthcare infrastructure, whether that interaction is in person or over the Internet.”

The Smart Card Alliance paper discusses the current challenges facing the healthcare IT infrastructure and details why smart cards provide the most cost efficient, secure, and user-accepted method for solving the healthcare identity management problem. It also explains how smart card technology can help make the critical capabilities needed in the healthcare infrastructure both possible and cost-effective. It can also provide an ideal way to achieve HIPAA compliance and meet the more stringent regulatory requirements of ARRA / HITECH.

“The lack of consistent and uniform identity management is at the root of the challenges faced by the healthcare industry today -- lowering administrative costs, preventing medical identity theft and fraud, protecting patient privacy, and enabling healthcare data exchanges. In fact, of the 195,000 deaths in the United States that occur annually due to medical errors, 60 percent of those were because of failure to correctly identify the patient,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “Creating a healthcare identity management infrastructure based on smart card technology directly addresses these problems because it enables the ability to properly identify patients and healthcare providers, match healthcare records, and identify individuals and healthcare providers that have authorized access to them.”

In addition to the use of smart cards, the Healthcare and Identity Councils advise the healthcare industry to take the opportunity to leverage and build upon existing federal initiatives and standards, such as the NIST Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201 and the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, which are already in use by numerous government agencies. These existing standards are proven technology solutions and an established set of best practices for smart card-based identity management and authentication that can be adapted to healthcare.

“NIST standards, and the Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management (F/ICAM) committee vision and framework on identity management provide the foundation for the healthcare industry to jump-start the definition of a national healthcare identity management infrastructure and provide a proven model for interoperability across multiple organizations,” Vanderhoof said

Featured

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

  • Report: Nearly 1 in 5 Healthcare Leaders Say Cyberattacks Have Impacted Patient Care

    Omega Systems, a provider of managed IT and security services, today released new research that reveals the growing impact of cybersecurity challenges on leading healthcare organizations and patient safety. According to the 2025 Healthcare IT Landscape Report, 19% of healthcare leaders say a cyberattack has already disrupted patient care, and more than half (52%) believe a fatal cyber-related incident is inevitable within the next five years. Read Now

New Products

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.

  • Compact IP Video Intercom

    Viking’s X-205 Series of intercoms provide HD IP video and two-way voice communication - all wrapped up in an attractive compact chassis.

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.