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Hospital Acquired Infections are the Topmost Patient Safety Concerns – 4 Ways to Address Them

May 30, 2021/6457 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, healthcare, Infection Control, Patient Experience, Patient Identification, Patient Outcomes, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

We started feeling the effects of the pandemic towards the end of 2019. The committed efforts in the US to create vaccines that would aid the hospitals and health systems in their fight against the pandemic have aided their return to a degree of normalcy. Caregivers are often concerned about the dangers of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) as one of the foremost patient safety concerns. The cases of COVID-19 made it an even bigger cause for worry for everyone. Patients are conscious of getting infected in the hospital with the virus and with the rate at which it spreads, caregivers have to be extra committed to infection prevention. Understanding this, we can move further to look at how HAIs can be prevented in the hospital and how patients can be assessed without touching them, for instance, by using a touchless patient identity verification platform.

Addressing one of the trending patient safety concerns – HAIs

Hospitals are often perceived as a haven where people can be cared for as per their healthcare needs. However, the need to consider establishing policies to address the problems associated with patient safety concerns to forestall adverse health outcomes. Here are some ways in which hospitals can deal with HAIs.

Clean surfaces and patient equipment regularly

This is so important and almost traditional. It is one sure practice that either eradicates HAIs or reduces them to the barest minimum. Thorough cleaning and care for all surfaces in special parts of the hospitals such as where samples of blood, bodily fluids, or instruments that would be used to treat a patient are stored. Such care has to be administered to areas where people such as medics, suppliers, patients, or visitors are attended to. This will help to control the spread of germs that might have attached to their persons from outside. This is how control over infections can be achieved in the hospital.

The responsibility falls on healthcare providers to continue to institute practices that improve infection control in all facilities. Ensuring a clean environment with clean surfaces such as walls, chairs, tables, beds, doorknobs being cleaned and disinfected regularly and thoroughly. This has become even more important to do now more than ever. Disinfection of patient materials such as sheets and gowns must be carried out after each use. The use of disposable plates, cups, and spoons alone should be encouraged.

Enforce hygiene practices on everyone

One of the things we have picked from the pandemic is the consistent use of nose masks as well a practicing social distancing. That applies even in less clinical circumstances. It shows you just how crucial those practices should be encouraged within hospitals. The consequences are much dire in the case of poor hygiene practices in the hospital and health system. Caregivers will have a nightmare experience if a Covid-19 patient comes in contact with hundreds of other patients in an unprotected manner. People tend to not enjoy the use of masks, because of this set of people, it is important to enforce social distancing protocols in hospitals.

The use of signs warning against such unhygienic practices should be encouraged. A sign that reads “NO MASKS, NO SERVICE” can be placed in strategic positions in the hospital to restrict such carefree attitudes in the hospital. Informative designed posters can be used to educate people on the social distancing protocols should also be used. Hand sanitizers should be made available and compulsory for anyone who wants to enter the clinic. Maintenance might be costly but it is worth the effort nonetheless.

Workers in the hospital must project adherence to these rules for patients to emulate by maintaining hand hygiene, use masks, and maintain social distancing. New workers must be adequately trained and enlightened about the essence of a clean and disinfected environment.

Have a robust and updated infection control policy in place

The above-mentioned practices are but a few that help to maintain infection control protocols being administered by a standard caregiver. These policies must be renewed and retaught regularly enough and they must be shared with staff members to prevent HAIs.

Other recognizable practices that are commonly an important infection control policy include

The use of gloves
Use of personal protective equipment
Regular and proper disposal of weight
Ensuring proper etiquette while coughing
Avoiding needlestick sores and injuries

Using contactless solutions to prevent prominent patient safety concerns

Providing quality care and ensuring patient safety as a practice is extremely difficult and important. In improving patient safety and quality of care, multiple solutions can help care providers reduce HAIs and deal with other patient safety concerns such as poor identification of patients or a case of mistaken identity.

One of such solutions available is RightPatient, a touchless biometric patient identification platform that helps identify patients in any care situation and time. It also does this in a simple, safer, and more hygienic manner. The patient only needs to gaze at the camera to register and on subsequent visits by the care provider staff. The platform compares the live photo with the saved one and displays their accurate medical record after the match is found.

It significantly minimizes the dangers of infection control issues, prevents medical errors, reduces misidentification of patients and other patient safety concerns. It played an active role in the post-pandemic scenarios but it has been in existence for years in some health institutions because it has no deleterious effects attached to its usage.

Question is, what are you using to accurately identify patients and reduce HAIs in the healthcare systems while doing it?

Infection Control in Hospitals is Imperative as COVID-19 Cases Increase

November 27, 2020/12876 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, COVID-19, healthcare, Infection Control, Patient Data, Patient Errors, Patient Identification, Patient Outcomes, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

COVID-19 is a phenomenon that has crippled almost the entire world. Even in those very rare countries where it didn’t infect many people, it did hurt their economies. The majority of developing countries are severely affected by the novel virus, leading to disruption in international businesses and global transactions. However, one can safely say that COVID-19 has affected America the worst – it is currently seeing huge spikes across the states, where officials are introducing new safety measures. Let’s take a look at the most recent record-breaking statistics of US COVID cases, some measures officials are implementing to mitigate its spread, and practices that will help ensure infection control in hospitals – improving patient safety and quality of care.

US COVID-19 cases keep breaking records

Unfortunately, the US has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world – over 11.3 million! Moreover, it keeps on making new records: November 13 saw 184,514 new cases, according to John Hopkins University. This is in line with experts’ predictions – many stated that things will get worse during the fall. Ultimately, all of this will add to the huge amount of pressure healthcare providers are already facing – the COVID Tracking Project saw over 68,000 hospitalizations on November 13 where 6% of the patients were on ventilators and 19% in ICUs.

Needless to say, these numbers are frightening, with officials introducing measures to mitigate further spread. Let’s review some of the emergency measures introduced within some states.

Some recent measures to mitigate COVID-19’s spread

Oregon will see restrictions on gyms, restaurants, and retail stores. Virginia issued a mask mandate for anyone older than five starting on the 15th of November. New Mexico will be facing a two-week shutdown that consists of nonessential activities starting from 16th November. Many other locations are seeing similar restrictions to ensure social distancing practices as a result of ever-increasing cases.

While these measures are in place to lower potential COVID-19 cases, infection control in hospitals must be ensured so that cases don’t spread within healthcare facilities. Let’s explore why this is important.

Why is infection control in hospitals important?

Of healthcare providers’ many responsibilities, preventing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has been a topmost priority for many of them. Hospitals are constantly looking to improve practices that enhance infection control and prevent HAIs. It is a crucial role of any hospital because, if not ensured, it will lead to compromised patient safety, undesirable healthcare outcomes, and create a chain of events that will jeopardize the entire healthcare facility. However, prior to the pandemic, HAIs used to be a headache of healthcare providers only; but now, contracting diseases is the concern of virtually everyone, especially those in hospitals.

COVID-19 has shown how effective communication can be in this day and age – any new update regarding the novel virus can be shared and seen by anyone, thanks to the internet. Almost everyone has extensive knowledge about the do’s and don’ts, and they are quite reluctant to visit hospitals since they know that’s where the COVID-19 patients are going. Thus, healthcare providers need to ensure infection control in hospitals and enhance patient safety as well as the safety of the frontline staff members. Let’s take a look at how hospitals can reduce HAIs, some of which are according to WHO, and improve healthcare outcomes as a result.

Practices to ensure infection control in hospitals

Create an effective infection control policy

The foundation of having zero to minimal HAIs is to have an effective infection control policy at hand. Healthcare providers wanting strict infection control must plan for it in advance, and this plan should contain guidelines for dealing with HAIs, identifying affected patients, locations to place the patients in isolation, and the duration of such events.

Washing hands thoroughly and regularly

While this might seem obvious at this point, it is still one of the most important practices to ensure infection control in hospitals and save lives in the process. Washing hands regularly with liquids containing antimicrobial agents for twenty seconds is a must, especially after interacting with extractions, contaminated items, blood, secretions, etc. Keep sanitizers within a short distance of each other so that patients and caregivers both have access to them. If possible, use automatic dispensers to make it a touchless and safer experience for everyone involved.

Enforce PPE usage

PPE is a term that has been tossed around since the beginning of the pandemic, and for good reason. While healthcare professionals have been using it for decades to prevent HAIs, virtually everyone uses some form of PPE nowadays to protect themselves. Unfortunately, not everyone follows best practices, which will ultimately put others at risk.

Enforcing PPE usage for everyone within a healthcare facility is a good practice, regardless of their designation. Simply putting up signs saying “No PPE, No Service” will be quite effective for patients. For the healthcare staff members, surgical masks, face shields, gloves, gowns, etc., must always be present whenever they are within the facilities.

Keeping surfaces clean

Viruses linger on surfaces for days, and keeping them clean is the best solution to prevent HAIs. We can significantly reduce HAIs by monitoring the materials and environmental surfaces that are touched frequently and disinfecting them regularly and thoroughly, such as beds, handles, etc.

Using touchless solutions that ensure infection control

While many touchless solutions will be popping up within the next few years, there is one that is already being used by many healthcare providers to prevent infection control issues – RightPatient. It is a touchless patient identification platform that uses patients’ photos to lock medical records and verify their identities. Enrolled patients only need to look at the camera – the platform matches the live photo with the saved one, providing the appropriate medical record within seconds without requiring any physical contact, and ensuring patient safety and hygiene.

Hospitals Must Ensure Improved Patient Outcomes as COVID-19 Cases Spike

November 12, 2020/9817 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, COVID-19, Data Integrity, healthcare, Patient Identification, Patient Outcomes, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

The moment everyone’s been dreading is almost upon us – another wave of COVID-19. This was inevitable, as most experts had stated that there would be a significant surge during this year’s fall season. According to experts, almost half of the US – including Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Texas, Utah, and Washington – is facing rising cases. The CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Director previously stated that the fall might well be one of the worst times the US healthcare system will face. That being said, as hospitals are steeling themselves for the upcoming surge, they need all the help they can get to ensure improved patient outcomes. Let’s explore the CDC’s most recent findings, what the future might hold, some problems faced by caregivers during the first wave, and how RightPatient can enhance patient safety and mitigate known issues.

Some frightening statistics

According to the CDC, COVID-19 tests have been increasing across the US. As of now, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Connecticut, and Iowa are the states experiencing the fastest spread of the novel virus, according to rt.live. Unfortunately, that’s not all – it’s just the beginning.

On the 30th of October, the US hit a record high for daily COVID-19 cases with a staggering 99,155 cases. Moreover, the previous day had also held that record, as per The New York Times. 100,000 daily COVID-19 cases might soon become a reality. Public health officials also told The New York Times that positive rapid test results are being severely undercounted. To make things worse, it’s virtually impossible now to track the COVID-19 cases back to a single source.

With all that said, hospitals are preparing for the worst, and they need all the help they can get for improved patient outcomes – let’s take a look at what happened during the first wave.

Problems faced by healthcare providers

Tom Leary, HIMSS VP of Government Relations stated that incorrect patient data leads to a number of issues that hamper any public health response initiative. Delays in sharing COVID-19 test results, inaccurate information within patient records, and the lack of properly shared patient data were some consequences that could be traced back to an overlooked but critical problem of the US healthcare system: patient identification errors. Moreover, whenever a vaccine is created, its deployment will require immaculate patient identification in order to make it effective – which patients received the shot, which are still waiting for it, and what are the outcomes.

Among other problems, patient misidentification was quite prevalent during the initial COVID-19 wave, and it’s natural to assume that it will happen again. Moreover, when COVID-19 spikes become overwhelming, regular patients will once again resort to using telehealth.

Thus, if caregivers want to ensure improved patient outcomes, they not only need to ensure positive patient identification but also ensure patient safety during both inpatient visits and remote sessions. Fortunately, as previously mentioned, that’s where RightPatient can help.

RightPatient ensures improved patient outcomes

RightPatient is a touchless biometric patient identification solution that has been helping healthcare providers for years. It locks the medical records of the patients using their photos upon enrollment.

During appointment scheduling, patients receive an SMS or email requiring them to provide a personal photo as well as a photo of their driver’s license. RightPatient automatically matches the photos and verifies their identities remotely, ensuring accurate patient data right from the start for improved patient outcomes.

In healthcare facilities, patients only need to look at the camera – the platform matches the photo saved during enrollment with the live image. After verification, it provides the appropriate medical record within seconds – enhancing patient safety and ensuring infection prevention.

RightPatient protects patient data integrity, prevents duplicate medical records, and enhances healthcare outcomes by identifying patients accurately across the care continuum. Be a responsible caregiver and protect patients now with RightPatient.

Patient Safety and Communication are Critical as Patient Visits Return to Pre-pandemic Levels

November 3, 2020/11291 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, COVID-19, Data Integrity, EHR, healthcare, Infection Control, Patient Data, Patient Identification, Patient Outcomes, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

COVID-19 has changed everything in unparalleled ways. Gone are the days when we could hang out casually with friends, be safe without PPE, and commute without the fear of catching the virus. It is quite natural that COVID-19 has impacted organizations and industries as well, and arguably, the US healthcare system is facing the worst consequences. The pandemic has affected every aspect of healthcare as we know it, and healthcare providers will be facing the consequences for years. They were forced to postpone elective procedures and outpatient visits to accommodate the surge of COVID-19 patients. While that was at the beginning of the year, many caregivers are now witnessing increased outpatient visits. Let’s take a look at some numbers regarding the fluctuation of outpatient visits, what caregivers should focus on now, and how patient safety and communication can be achieved with positive patient identification.

What has been the situation since the pandemic hit?

While the novel coronavirus has rattled almost every country’s healthcare system, America’s is the one it hit the worst. In addition to the many pre-existing issues with the healthcare system, the US has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. In order to make room for the numerous COVID-19 cases, as already mentioned, caregivers had to cancel elective surgeries and also encourage non-critical patients to opt for telehealth visits.

Updates regarding outpatient visits

The Commonwealth Fund was closely following the updates of patient volumes within hospitals – let’s take a look at the numbers.

Outpatient visits took a significant hit – they had reduced by almost 60% during the early stages of the pandemic. The update provided by the Commonwealth Fund during May showed that patients were returning for outpatient visits, however, they were still one-third lower compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Also, the latest report shows that weekly outpatient visits are somewhat higher now, compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Outpatient visits vary

While this is a good sign for healthcare providers, it must be noted that these vary greatly depending on age, location, specialty, etc. For instance, in-person visits from younger patients are still lower than they were before the pandemic. Visits are higher for urologists, dermatologists, and adult PCPs, whereas behavioral health providers are experiencing lower visits. More Medicare patients are coming for inpatient visits compared to the pre-pandemic period. Telemedicine visits were higher when inpatient visits declined, but its usage is declining. However, its usage is still much higher than it was before the pandemic.

All these comparisons show that providers and patients are adapting to the new normal. Many patients are suffering from complex diseases and, due to the pandemic, they have been postponing healthcare visits for far too long. However, since restrictions are being lifted, patients are returning for outpatient visits in order to avail healthcare services. While providers are opening their doors to treat patients, they also need to ramp up their patient safety and communication efforts. After all, the post-pandemic world is completely new for everyone – there’s no tried and tested formula to ensure everyone’s safety. Healthcare providers also must make sure that their patients are not contracting COVID-19. Let’s see how this can be a possibility.

How patient safety and communication are hampered

All of the patients of any given hospital must first be identified. This happens either at the registration desks or within the emergency department. Different caregivers have different patient identity verification methods in place. Now, many caregivers either use inefficient methods, like questioning patients, or use solutions that have become outdated, such as contact-based patient identification platforms.

When asking patients questions, there are high chances that the registrar or nurse will identify the wrong medical record – they might need to find the record from an EHR system that contains thousands. Moreover, duplicate medical records are quite prevalent. Whatever the case may be, such inefficient methods hamper patient safety, lead to poor communication, and adversely impact patient outcomes.

While many used touch-based solutions to identify patients before the pandemic, COVID-19 has rendered these solutions unsatisfactory. Many caregivers have witnessed significantly lower utilization of these solutions – patients simply are reluctant to touch them. This is because of the pandemic and the fear of contracting the virus, which is not unreasonable. Every patient of any given hospital is processed from registration desks and EDs – can you imagine how disastrous it would be if one of them had COVID-19? Once the infected patient touches the device, it would lead to everyone else becoming infected. Before, infection control was a common headache of caregivers, and now it is a concern for patients too. Touch-based solutions have always had an impact on patient safety, but only the most forward-thinking caregivers foresaw this. That’s why they went with RightPatient, improving patient safety and communication in the process.

RightPatient enhances patient safety

RightPatient is the leading patient identification platform used by caregivers who prioritize patient safety. It’s an entirely touchless solution that uses a powerful photo-based engine and patients’ faces to identify them across the care continuum.

Whenever patients arrive at the hospital, all they need to do is look at the camera – the platform matches the saved photo taken during registration with the present one, ensuring an entirely touchless, hygienic, and safe experience for everyone involved. This eliminates the risk of contracting infectious diseases and enhances patient safety.

By identifying patients accurately right from appointment scheduling, as well as other touchpoints, RightPatient ensures patient data integrity by preventing data corruption, improving communication across the care continuum and reducing the chances of medical errors based on incorrect patient data.

A Futureproof Patient Identification Protocol Can Help Mitigate Providers’ Losses

August 11, 2020/9498 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, COVID-19, Duplicate Medical Records, EHR, healthcare, Infection Control, Medical Identity Theft, Patient Identification, Patient Outcomes /by Matt Gibson

COVID-19 has been one of the biggest catastrophes to hit the world in modern times. There is literally no aspect of our lives it didn’t affect. Unfortunately, it will continue to affect us – experts are saying that the second wave is already here in the US. However, healthcare providers are still reeling from the ongoing surge of COVID-19 patients as well as the unprecedented losses faced due to the pandemic. With hospitals and health systems having to make hard choices like laying off employees, introducing pay cuts, and furloughing employees, is there any way to mitigate the losses? Yes, there are many, but the most sensible choice for providers would be to adopt a futureproof patient identification protocol like RightPatient. Let’s explore further.

Hospitals expected to lose $323 billion in 2020!

And that is apparently an understatement. Losses might even exceed $323 billion, depending on the inevitable surges during the rest of the year as well as the increasing number of cases in some specific states.

The breakdown

During the final half of the year 2020, hospitals are set to lose at least $120.5 billion, especially due to lower inpatient visits, whereas an estimated $202.6 billion has been lost between March and June, according to AHA.

COVID-19 has affected all industries in the US, but its healthcare system is clearly the one it hit the worst – $323 billion is no small number. Since the pandemic started, hospitals had to reprioritize to deal with the surge of COVID-19 patients. Healthcare providers canceled elective procedures and non-COVID-19 patients were advised to use telehealth, reducing inpatient visits and leading to most of the financial losses.

Moreover, COVID-19 is causing hospitals to face higher expenses. PPE and ventilators, for instance, were not used as extensively prior to the pandemic. As previously mentioned, providers had to lay off employees, furlough them, or reduce their salaries, while others were even forced to close down due to the financial strain. Let’s look at some of the recent victims.

Some recent victims

BRMC (Bluefield Regional Medical Center) will be permanently closing down by July 30th, 2020. Financial damages due to the pandemic, lower patient volumes, and reimbursement rates were contributing factors that forced the officials to make this tough decision.

Saint Luke’s Health System will permanently close the doors of its Cushing Hospital in Kansas on October 1st, after closing down its inpatient unit on July 17th – another victim of COVID-19.

HealthPartners will shut down seven clinics and has stated that it will lay off 200 employees at two of those seven facilities. This, too, is because of the financial pressure brought by the pandemic.

Suffering from financial challenges tied to the pandemic, UW Medicine will lay off 100 employees. This comes after it has already furloughed 4000 unionized employees and 1500 non-union ones. It has also received around $180 million in provider relief funding, but sadly, it looks like that will not be enough to offset the damages caused by COVID-19.

These are just some of the numerous cases that show the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on healthcare providers and how the pandemic is forcing them to make tough choices. Sadly, we are only halfway through this pandemic-driven year – we do not know what’s in store for us.

Healthcare providers need to reduce costs significantly in order to survive this challenging phase – perhaps the most challenging one they have ever faced. So, is there anything that can help them mitigate their costs?

An effective patient identification protocol can help

While healthcare providers are searching desperately for ways to reduce their costs, they can do so by preventing medical identity theft, avoiding duplicate medical records, and preventing patient identification errors. All they need to do is upgrade their patient identification protocol.

Before doing that, healthcare providers need to evaluate their current patient identification protocols.

Is it ensuring accurate patient identification across the care continuum?
Is it preventing medical identity theft?
Is it preventing duplicate record creation?
Is it ensuring a hygienic environment for patients and employees?
Does it have a high acceptance rate among patients?
Is it futureproof?

If even one of the answers to the questions listed above is no, then providers seriously need to upgrade their patient identity matching systems within their facilities. This is where RightPatient can help hospitals and health systems to reduce their losses and improve patient identification.

Achieve accurate patient identification with RightPatient

RightPatient is a photo-based patient identification platform that checks all the boxes for being an effective patient identifier. During registration, the platform locks the medical records of the patients with their photos. Returning patients simply look at the camera and are identified by the platform within seconds – providing the EHR user with accurate medical records. It also prevents medical identity theft, as fraudsters are red-flagged when they face the robust verification process.

RightPatient prevents duplicate record creation, reduces denied claims, and prevents avoidable medical errors in the process to enhance patient safety.

Even before the pandemic, responsible healthcare leaders chose RightPatient because its touchless platform eliminated any chances of infection control issues during its usage – something that other conventional patient identifiers do not possess. RightPatient has over 99% patient acceptance rate – it provides a seamless, hygienic, and easy way for ensuring proper identification, improving patient safety and quality of care.

The pandemic requires providers to switch to a touchless patient identifier and reduce healthcare costs significantly – try RightPatient now and experience the difference it makes.

Identifying Patients Accurately is Critical for Ensuring CMS Compliance

July 27, 2020/8104 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, Data Integrity, Duplicate Medical Records, EHR, healthcare, Patient Errors, Patient Identification, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

The US healthcare system has been going through a very challenging phase due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, it looks like healthcare providers are going to have their hands full – they have another rule to comply with and must plan accordingly to ensure compliance by May 1, 2021. The fact that there have been additional changes to the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) is already well known among healthcare leaders. However, while many providers are already thinking about how they can ensure compliance, they might leave out one significant factor that can make or break the entire effort – are they identifying patients accurately? Why is this important? How does patient identification fit in with the new changes? How can providers ensure accurate patient identification? Let’s explore in detail.

CMS Interoperability & Patient Access Final Rule

While the entire healthcare system has been suffering from the lack of interoperability, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have made some changes to the CoPs to ensure that there is some degree of interoperability, believing that it will have positive effects on care coordination as well.

The “companion final rule”, as per CMS, mandates that healthcare providers like acute care, psychiatric, and critical access hospitals send out e-notifications during every patient admission, discharge, or transfer (ADT) to the designated recipients (read: providers and other entities primarily responsible for patient’s care). This is applicable for both inpatient admissions and patients registered in the emergency departments (EDs).

Moreover, the providers obligated to follow the ADT requirements must make enough effort to ensure that they have sent out the notifications to the applicable parties (suppliers, entities, practitioners, etc.) in real-time.

Any given healthcare provider that uses digital medical records like EMRs or EHRs needs to ensure compliance with the updated CoPs for e-notifications. COVID-19 has extended the deadline – healthcare providers now have until May 1, 2021 to ensure compliance with the recent changes.

Why are the CoPs important?

What is the biggest reason to ensure CMS compliance? Financial factors like CMS reimbursements and avoiding non-compliance penalties are more than ample motivators. Healthcare providers need to be compliant in order to safeguard their CMS provider agreement – it determines whether the providers are able to receive reimbursements or not, which can be quite significant in some cases. If providers do not ensure compliance, not only will their agreements be in jeopardy, restricting them from receiving reimbursements, but they might also face penalties. Given the current healthcare crisis that has crippled almost every caregiver, more financial woes are something any provider would want to avoid.

What the healthcare providers are doing

Since the deadline has been extended to May 1, 2021, leading figures of healthcare providers are brainstorming about how to comply with the change – should they build an in-house e-notification system themselves, or should they buy from experienced vendors? Whatever option providers go with, they are not addressing the elephant in the room – are they identifying patients accurately?

How identifying patients accurately is related to e-notifications

Think of it this way – patient identification in hospitals is already inaccurate. In fact, many healthcare providers face patient identification errors due to duplicate medical records, medical record overlays, and patient mix-ups, among other problems. These lead to issues like compromised patient safety, unwanted patient outcomes, avoidable medical errors, and even deaths.

So, it has already been established that if a hospital does not have an accurate patient identity management system, then it causes a lot of problems for the facility. Can you imagine what will happen if the hospital goes for an e-notification platform without identifying patients correctly first?

Issues like common names and characteristics shared by patients are already quite prevalent and cause patient mix-ups. If such a case occurs while sending out e-notifications, then the wrong patient’s data will be provided to the subsequent caregiver. Thus, patient mix-ups and incorrect patient identification cases during ADT notifications will wreak havoc – delays in treatments, medical errors, and lawsuits are just some of the consequences of such scenarios. It will be a nightmare for any given provider. Hospitals and health systems that are not identifying patients accurately at their facilities need to eliminate these errors to ensure CMS compliance and avoid any unwanted consequences. They need to ensure patient data integrity by ensuring positive patient identification every time a patient comes in. That’s where we can help.

Identifying patients accurately with RightPatient

RightPatient is the healthcare industry’s leading photo-based biometric patient identification platform. It seamlessly integrates with the major EHR systems and becomes part of the workflow. Patients are registered by locking their medical records with their photos. After enrollment, incoming patients only need to look at the camera and the platform matches the photos and provides accurate medical records within seconds. This ensures a safe, easy, touchless, and hygienic patient identification experience for everyone.

RightPatient ensures that the correct patient is identified every time across the care continuum, helping you maintain patient data integrity. With RightPatient, you can send out the correct patient’s notification every time, ensuring CMS compliance and safeguarding your patients and, in turn, your business.

Infection Control in Hospitals – How it Should be Addressed as Hospitals Reopen

July 8, 2020/6636 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, COVID-19, Infection Control, Medical Identity Theft, Patient Identification, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

COVID-19, “the novel coronavirus”, “corona” – it goes by a lot of names. Whatever you choose to call it, one thing everyone can certainly agree on is that it is an unprecedented phenomenon that has changed the reality for all of us. Many of us have not met friends or family members for months, have not left our homes, and are practicing social distancing to save ourselves and our loved ones from getting infected. However, one of the only exceptions to be highlighted are healthcare workers. They have been tirelessly providing services over the last few months – tackling the relatively new disease on the frontlines, with many even getting infected with it in the process. However, hospitals need to ensure patient safety as they are opening up gradually. With that in mind, infection control in hospitals is mostly focused on the busiest areas of their premises. What about the first point of contact? Is it safe for patients? Is the process touchless, accurate, and hygienic? Let’s analyze how RightPatient can reduce infection control issues for you during the arrival of patients.

Infection control in hospitals

First of all, infection control in hospitals aims to reduce the spreading of infectious diseases and keep the number of infected individuals, incidents causing infections, or the possibilities leading to outbreaks as low as possible. This is quite a tricky task, as it is not always possible to keep these criteria in check.

However, everyone mostly focuses on the other areas of the health systems and are overlooking the first point of contact – patient registration desks, EDs, and so on. For most of the providers, that is usually where all patients go first to receive healthcare services. If not kept in check, these points of entries might turn into infection control issues. For instance, if the place gets contaminated, every patient coming afterward will be potentially infected unless it is decontaminated properly. That itself is an administrative nightmare and will force the hospital to block off the area, leading to delays or hold-ups in services, causing significant losses in the process. As one can clearly see, this is something that any healthcare provider would want to avoid, which is why infection control issues were always a concern for leading healthcare providers.

Patients are wary of infection control issues now

While infection control in hospitals, or lack thereof, was only a common headache for the providers, the coronavirus pandemic has led to it being a headache for everyone else as well. Nowadays, everyone is well aware of how the virus spreads and they are scrutinizing how hospitals can and are reducing or managing infection control issues.

While the US healthcare system has been going all out to deal with the overwhelming number of patients, many providers are slowly opening their doors to regular patients requiring urgent care. For these patients, the hospitals need to be up to speed and ensure that they are improving patient safety and quality of care so that patients feel right at home and go through the caregiving process without any unwanted incidents.

While COVID-19 has instilled the fear of how good or bad infection control in hospitals is, what can the providers do to reduce spreading the disease at the first point of contact?

RightPatient – the futureproof patient identifier

It is a touchless biometric patient identification platform and has a variety of benefits. But how does it work exactly?

RightPatient locks the medical records of the patients with their photos upon registration. After enrollment, the patient just comes in and looks at the camera – RightPatient then matches the photo with the one saved alongside the medical record. It provides the saved medical record within seconds – ensuring accurate patient identification.

Leading healthcare providers understand the importance of positive patient identification and how it affects them. They have been using RightPatient for years and one of the reasons they chose it is because it is the most hygienic way to identify patients accurately and quickly without causing any infection control issues like other touch-based solutions.

While leading healthcare providers have been reducing infection control issues for years, you can do it now – preventing medical identity theft in real-time, reducing denied claims, and preventing duplicate medical records – all with a single platform that can be seamlessly integrated with your EHR system. RightPatient proudly protects over 10 million patient records and boosts the bottom lines of several healthcare providers.

Patient Identification in Hospitals is in Dire Need of an Upgrade After COVID-19

July 7, 2020/8139 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, COVID-19, Medical Identity Theft, Medical Record Mix-ups, Patient Errors, Patient Identification, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

COVID-19 has changed the world around us in unprecedented ways. In fact, it is still shaping how we will interact with each other in the future for years to come. Social distancing, ensuring proper hygiene at all times, and wearing PPE whenever we step outside have become the norms and it will be so for quite some time. Naturally, hospitals have been the most affected parties due to the coronavirus, since they are the ones treating the patients. As different parts of the US are opening up gradually, it is quite natural that healthcare providers would open their doors too. However, changes are advised to ensure that patient safety is improved while hospitals are reopening. One of the most important changes required is the overhaul of patient identification in hospitals since that is usually the first point of contact for both patients and caregivers. Let’s look at why most of the current patient identifiers can pose threats now, and how a touchless solution like RightPatient is the only choice going forward.

Why is patient identification in hospitals important?

Patient identification errors have been haunting the US healthcare system for a long time now. The consequences of patient misidentifications can be quite severe for both providers and patients. Patients can suffer from shocking bills, the wrong treatment, repeated care or lab test results, and even death. Providers, on the other hand, may experience denied claims, unwanted attention, the costs associated with fixing duplicate records and overlays, and loss of goodwill. As can be clearly understood, patient identification errors can cause irreparable damage to all those who are associated with them. But how is the US healthcare system identifying its patients?

What patient identification was before COVID-19

Patient identification in hospitals has, admittedly, been quite fragmented. Different providers use different strategies to identify their patients. Let’s look at some of the common means of patient identification along with their pros and cons, as well as why RightPatient is the perfect choice for accurate patient identification.

Even though there are a variety of patient identification solutions available, some hospitals still prefer to use the decades-old method of identifying patients by asking them questions to find their respective EHRs. The EHR user may ask the patients to state their names, addresses, DOB, ID numbers (if appropriate), and so on. The only good thing about this is it is mostly touchless. However, the costs outweigh the only benefit of this archaic method. It is slow, tedious, time-consuming, and cannot detect if someone else is pretending to be the patient, leading to medical identity theft.

Another popular method is using patient ID wristbands. While this is more accurate than just asking questions, it has its drawbacks as well. It can be transferred or stolen, leading to others using healthcare services assigned for a different patient, committing medical identity theft. More importantly, it is also contact based, something which everyone is quite reluctant to do nowadays, but more on that later.

One of the most accurate ways to identify patients is by utilizing features patients do not share with anyone else, that is, the features that are unique to them. This is where biometrics comes into play. For instance, modalities like fingerprint and palm-vein scanning drastically improve accurate patient identification. However, these would require the patients to touch the devices for identity verification, which was off-putting for leading healthcare providers. These would cause infection control issues. For instance, a patient with a contagious disease could come in, touch the device, and effectively contaminate it, unless it is cleaned after every usage. It would be a nightmare for all those involved in the process.

What COVID-19 taught us

Prior to the pandemic, not many patients would have thought about it. After COVID-19, however, the majority of patients would be extremely reluctant to use touch-based solutions for patient identification, as they have a fear of contracting the highly contagious virus now. Thus, acceptance rates for touch-based solutions would be quite low now. Thus, patient identification in hospitals needs to be upgraded to enhance patient safety as well as accuracy.

So, what are the leading healthcare providers using for accurate patient identification?

What patient identification should be after COVID-19

The leading touchless biometric patient identification platform, RightPatient, is being used by providers like Grady Health, Duke Health, and University Health Care System. So, what makes RightPatient so different yet effective?

It locks the medical records of the patients with a photo of them upon registration. When registered patients return, all they need to do is look at the camera; the platform recognizes them and produces the correct medical record within seconds. All of this can be done easily and without a single touch from the patient!

RightPatient ticks all the right boxes – it ensures accurate patient identification, successfully prevents medical identity theft, reduces denied claims, prevents new duplicate records, and enhances patient safety by providing them a touchless solution. All of these benefits lead to boosting the bottom line of healthcare providers – something that they really need right now.

RightPatient has been protecting over ten million patient records already, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become the only viable solution. Are you still using outdated platforms? It is high time to make the change and upgrade to RightPatient.

Patient Identity Management is More Important Than Ever – Are you Doing it Right?

July 7, 2020/9687 views / 0 Comments/in BLOG, healthcare, Infection Control, Medical Identity Theft, Patient Identification, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

Patient identity management, to put it very simply, refers to how patients are being identified in hospitals. However, anyone who knows the US healthcare system is familiar with the fact that it is quite a significant problem for the majority of healthcare providers. Lack of proper patient identity management is a problem not only for healthcare providers but for everyone involved in healthcare, including patients and insurance companies. While healthcare providers incur financial costs as well as the loss of goodwill, patients face financial costs as well as the wrong treatment and medications, hampering patient safety. Even though there are effective solutions, the coronavirus pandemic has rendered most of them ineffective. Let’s dive deep into why patient identification errors occur, how they have been solved until now, and why the future of patient identity management will be different (read touchless) due to COVID-19.

Reasons for patient identification errors

Patient identification errors have always been present. Earlier, patient record mix-ups were the main reason when paper medical records were used. To put it simply, patient records were mixed up when the patients had common names and characteristics such as age, address, etc. Fast forward to the age of EHR (electronic health record) systems, where things have become quite complicated. Human errors, negligence, and relevant external factors have caused EHR systems to house duplicate medical records as well as overlays, causing patient identification errors to be more prevalent than ever.

Duplicate medical records can be created for the same patient. For instance, if a patient goes to avail of healthcare services, the first thing the provider would do is identify the patient’s medical record. For various reasons, the EHR user cannot identify the correct medical record (say, the EHR user sees that there are multiple records for the same name). Either the hospital staff spends more time painstakingly searching for the right medical record, or else creates a new record, the latter leading to a duplicate being created. This duplicate will lead to fragmented data and patient care – neither the correct record will house the most recent data of the patient nor the new one will contain the entire medical history of the patient. All in all, this will hamper patient safety, and increase costs.

Medical record overlays are created when multiple records are merged, and this can be for the same patient having duplicate records as well as a different patient having the same characteristics as another patient. As can be understood, overlays are quite dangerous as it mixes information from different patients.

On top of all that, the classic cases of patient mix-ups still exist. A few months ago, two patients got mixed up regarding a kidney transplant – the wrong patient got the kidney. Fortunately, nobody was hurt as the kidney was compatible with the wrong patient. This mix-up occurred due to the patients having similar names, age, as well as being lined up for kidney transplants, albeit on different dates. While both the patients surviving without major issues was a huge stroke of luck, not everyone is as fortunate. There have been many cases where mistaken patient identities caused deaths.

All in all, patient identification errors cause a plethora of problems for everyone involved, which makes an effective patient identity management solution like RightPatient all the more crucial, especially in a post-COVID-19 world.

Common patient identity management solutions

By far, the most common and obsolete way of patient identification is asking patients questions. Even in this day and age, many hospitals are still using this simply ineffective method. Patients are asked to state their names, addresses, and other relevant data to crosscheck against present medical records. This is slow, tedious, and also dangerous – someone can just assume the identity of another patient and commit medical identity theft. Healthcare data breaches are quite common, and hackers steal patient data, only to sell it later on the black market. An impostor can just buy the data and assume the identity of the patient, and if this outdated way of identifying patients with questions is used, the actor cannot be detected easily.

Another way healthcare providers identify patients is by using patient ID wristbands. While this might seem like a better patient identity management solution, it also has its flaws. To begin with, patient ID wristbands can be transferred, stolen, or lost. This can lead to medical identity theft as well. On top of that, it requires contact – something hospitals are quite wary of and now patients are too, given the coronavirus pandemic. Infection control issues have always been a headache for providers, but COVID-19 has made it a concern for the general public as well. For the next several years, people will be quite reluctant to touch anything, especially within hospitals.

That brings us to touch-based biometric patient identification solutions like fingerprint and palm-vein scanning. While these are far more effective patient identity management platforms, as there is no way for anyone to fool biometrics, these too pose threats to patient safety. Even before COVID-19, one of the main factors healthcare providers considered before choosing a patient identification platform was how safe it was and whether any infection control issues would arise from using the platform. For both fingerprint and palm-vein scanning, patients had to touch the devices, leading to potential infection control issues. On top of that, cleaning the devices after every use would be a nightmare, to say the least.

The futureproof patient identity management solution

RightPatient is the most apt patient identification platform, moving forward. Why? Because RightPatient is a touchless biometric patient identification platform. It locks the medical records of the patients with their photos upon registration. Whenever a patient comes to the healthcare provider, all the patient needs to do is look at the camera and the platform identifies the correct medical record within seconds, making it the easiest, most seamless, and completely touchless experience.

Leading healthcare providers like Terrebonne General Medical Center, University Health Care System, and Community Medical Centers, among others, have chosen RightPatient because it creates no infection control issues – one of the benefits of being a touchless solution.

Moving forward, the majority of healthcare providers are opening up in phases, and they would need to ensure patient safety. Hospitals have already lost a lot of money due to the pandemic, and they need to start mitigating losses. RightPatient can help providers with that – by both ensuring accurate patient identification and eliminating any touch-based interactions required during the process. This helps reduce denied claims, improves the revenue cycle, and prevents medical identity theft. Mitigate losses now with RightPatient.

Patient Identity Verification Must be Touchless After COVID-19

July 6, 2020/10374 views / 0 Comments/in Biometric Terminology, BLOG, COVID-19, Future of Biometrics, healthcare, Infection Control, Patient Matching, Patient Safety /by Matt Gibson

The coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest changemaker in recent decades. After months of lockdown, social distancing, and gradual reopening of society, new cases are being seen in the US again. While everything may seem uncertain for now, one thing is for sure – COVID-19 has changed reality for everyone. Going to restaurants and hanging out with friends are things of the past now and there is no telling when all this will be normal again. The coronavirus has highlighted one thing in particular that will stay for us with a long time to come – how to reduce physical contact with others. Healthcare providers have had headaches of infection control issues for years now, but it is the headache of the average patient after the pandemic shook the world. While there will be a rise in usage and demand in touchless technology in the future, such as facial/voice recognition attendance systems, printing board passes via gestures, etc., one area where it is crucially needed is during the patient identity verification process. Let’s analyze the current condition of patient identification processes used, why a uniform identifier is not used by providers, and how leading healthcare providers are ensuring accurate patient identification.

Patient identity verification – the current scenario

Patient identification errors have been a much-discussed topic in this space, and for good reason. It is still one of the biggest problems healthcare providers are facing – leading to denied claims, medical identity theft, increased losses, and patient safety issues. While ineffective patient identity verification is a prevalent issue, different providers are implementing different solutions to solve them. But shouldn’t there be a uniform method of patient identification present? That is where the UPI comes in.

The mythical UPI

UPIs, or unique patient identifiers, have been the talk for years now. UPIs can be anything that is, as the name suggests, unique to a single patient. Its absence has led to quite a few problems within the US healthcare system, including duplicate medical records, waste, and preventable medical errors. In fact, John Hopkins has said that over 250,000 people in the US die due to medical errors, many of which are due to incorrect patient records and data. These unfortunate deaths could have been avoided with accurate patient identification. But why, then, is UPI still not a thing? Why do healthcare providers still struggle with patient identification?

Healthcare providers, as well as respected leaders in the healthcare system, have been clamoring for a UPI for years now. In fact, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) mandates that a UPI be created for patients. However, there have been concerns since the beginning of talks regarding a UPI – how it might be stolen, misused, or worse, just like Social Security numbers. Basically, lawmakers were concerned as to how UPI could be kept private and confidential so that third parties cannot gain unauthorized access to it. Thus, back in 1998, Congress banned the authorization of a state-funded UPI. The stance has not changed after all these years. Even in 2019, the House of Representatives voted to revoke the ban, but the Senate let it stay. The lack of an effective patient identifier has been haunting the US healthcare industry ever since the UPI was banned in 1998.

How is the US healthcare system verifying patient identity?

Different healthcare providers are using different methods for patient identity verification. However, most of them are rendered ineffective now due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, only healthcare providers used to think about infection control issues. Now, it is a headache for the patients as well.

While some are waiting around for the government to approve a state-funded UPI, they are facing a constant struggle with the usage of an obsolete means to identify patients – asking them questions. This has a lot of loopholes – it is slow, tedious, and anyone can assume the identity of the patient as long as they have the patient’s data with them, leading to medical identity theft.

Others are using patient ID wristbands. While more effective than asking questions, this, too, can be stolen, transferred, and used to commit medical identity theft. Not to mention, these require physical contact as well, something that patients will very much be reluctant to do nowadays – a result of the pandemic.

An effective patient identity verification system is biometric patient identification. Once again, not all modalities are effective, safe, and practical. As mentioned earlier, the pandemic has changed reality for all of us – patient identification is no exception.

While biometric modalities like fingerprint and palm-vein scanning are effective, they require the one thing patients will not be ready to do for a long time – touch the device to verify their identities. Hospitals are the epicenter of infection control issues, and while every provider has been dealing with COVID-19 patients, regular patients will be quite hesitant to touch anything. This is especially applicable during patient identification, as they know all patients pass through this location, and contact-based devices might lead to infections.

Touchless patient identity verification is the future

This is where RightPatient comes in. We have been providing hospitals with a touchless biometric patient identification platform for years now. Since the beginning, our focus was to ensure patient safety, which is why we always suggested healthcare providers consider our touchless solution that eliminates any infection control headaches related to patient identification. Unlike touch-based solutions, our devices do not require cleaning after every use.

The medical records of the patients are locked with their photos upon registration. Whenever the patient returns, RightPatient identifies the right medical record within seconds after the patient looks at the camera.

RightPatient has been serving leading healthcare providers like Community Medical Centers, University Medical Center, and Duke Health. It has helped with eliminating the creation of duplicate medical records, preventing medical identity theft, and enhancing patient safety through accurate patient identification in a hygienic manner.

We shared the same concerns healthcare providers have – how to ensure accurate patient identity verification while eliminating infection control issues. After the pandemic, patients have the same concern too. Are you addressing it correctly? If not, contact us right away.