Avoid fraud and optimize operations, the contributions of biometrics to health institutions in Latin America.
By Sergio Mazzoni*
Drug fraud is an increasingly serious threat to public health around the world. This problem has numerous factors to analyze: from the counterfeiting and production of low- and high-cost drugs, to the theft of original drugs for illicit marketing; we must even consider crimes such as the impersonation of people or the alteration of medical orders: embezzlements that ultimately directly attack the finances of health systems.
An example of this last point occurred in Colombia two years ago. In this country, the local authorities dismantled a network that achieved a millionaire embezzlement of the General Social Security System in Health through the falsification of medical orders with which expensive medicines were authorized that were then sold on the black market.
In that same operation, the existence of a cartel specialized in fraudulently claiming high-cost drugs for dermatological diseases, in addition to other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and prostate cancer, was confirmed.
In fact, there are several cases in the world that present this type of crime, and Latin America is not exempt from them. Unfortunately many health systems in the region do not have the necessary infrastructure to prevent this type of scam.
However, there are some initiatives to address this threat. In Peru, for example, the healthcare industry is increasingly looking to use biometrics as an authentication method for drug delivery.
How can drug fraud be combated with biometrics?
Knowing with certainty who is making a transaction is an essential part of a solution against fraud, so it is worth noting the great effectiveness of biometric systems as a method for personal authentication.
Biometric authentication has different uses and benefits for health systems; one of them, to avoid the impersonation of patients, affiliates or employees.
As mentioned above, there are criminals who impersonate someone else to claim the drug and subsequently sell it on the black market. With biometric validation as an authentication mechanism for this procedure, especially for the strongest and most expensive medicines, this crime would be significantly reduced, thanks to the powerful protection against identity falsification represented by the use of this technology.
With regard to fingerprint biometrics, for example, there are different technologies to meet specific needs and with particular characteristics for each application of use.
On the one hand is the optical technology, very popular and widespread worldwide. In the same way we have capacitive, low-power biometric technology, used for authentication in mobile applications such as laptops, tablets and other devices.
There are also other more complete and advanced technologies for false finger detection such as multispectral, which makes it possible for readers and biometric modules to use multiple light spectra and advanced polarization techniques to extract unique fingerprint features from both the skin surface and the subdermis. That is, the technology identifies both the characteristics of the skin's surface and an inner layer irrigated by the bloodstream.
This allows for immediate identification, even in adverse conditions, such as when the user has wet, greasy, dirty, injured, or their fingerprint is worn.
With the use of these techniques there will be no way for one person to impersonate another. This is an advantage that can be taken advantage of both in this management of medicines and in the different operational processes of hospitals, clinics, sanatoriums or pharmacies of a health system.
5 Additional Benefits of Using Biometrics in the Healthcare Sector
In addition to countering fraud in the delivery of medicines, with an adequate biometric identification system healthcare professionals can establish a fundamental link between a patient and their records. This in turn can limit or eliminate useless duplication of records, optimize operations and other advantages such as the following:
1. Time Optimization: This is one of the biggest benefits that biometrics can provide as an authentication method. Instead of a patient filling out forms and presenting their identification at the ticket office, it is enough to rest their finger on a reader, and thus solve the entire process of their access to services.
2. On the other hand, it contributes to the comfort of patients, being a convenient resource in procedures with the elderly population, who for different reasons find it more difficult to complete admission records. With the right resources, the authentication process can be done through the reading of fingerprints regardless of the deterioration that the patient may have on the skin.
3. Beyond avoiding the misidentification of patients, this method also reduces medical negligence (errors) in terms of confusion of diagnoses, medication prescriptions, unnecessary assistance, among other situations that can bother and affect the health of patients.
4. Likewise, this technology can be applied for the identification of personnel, and thus be able to ensure an appropriate record on compliance with the protocols imposed in each health provider entity.
5. Similarly, we must highlight the contribution of biometrics to improve the interoperability of health systems, which helps organizations share data among their entities, including with government ministries, and thus prevent duplication of registration efforts.
Finally, and linked to the issue of interoperability, it is worth mentioning a novel initiative that the Argentine Government is advancing, which allows parents to process the identity document of a baby between 24 and 48 hours of birth and from the same health establishment. This through an electronic device that takes the photograph of the baby and his fingerprints to generate the biometric data in the same place of birth; this information travels via the web to the Civil Registry, where the data is uploaded and then generate the DNI procedure.
In conclusion, creating robust identification systems is a fairly effective barrier to preventing fraud in the delivery of medicines. On the other hand, secure authentication in short periods of time improves the delivery of assistance and, ultimately, saves lives.
Already in the United States, 95% of hospitals use biometric and RFID technology for these purposes. Meanwhile, in Latin America, important health service providers in countries such as Chile, Colombia and Mexico have also implemented biometric solutions to recognize and validate their patients and members.
* Mr. Sergio Mazzoni, Sales Director for Latin America of the Extended Access Technologies Business Unit of HID Global.
