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MA hospitals introduce smart cards for patient registration, HIM

Case Management Weekly, March 30, 2004

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MA hospitals introduce smart cards for patient registration, HIM

By giving all patients a card to put in their wallets, two Northeast Health System (NHS) facilities have managed to register patients more smoothly and accurately and decrease the number of records the health information management (HIM) staff has to correct.

"The program is increasing patient safety and decreasing rework on the backend by medical records, access services, and patient accounts," says Cheryl Akre Teal, director of access services. "It's also increasing productivity in those areas by putting the focus on the patients."

Upon their initial visit to Addison Gilbert Hospital or Beverly Hospital, both NHS sites based in Beverly, MA, patients receive wallet-size cards that include a microchip imprinted with only their medical record number.

During registration for subsequent visits, the registrar inserts the card into an electronic reader. "The card gives a direct hit on the medical record for that patient and populates the screen with all the correct information from that patient's last visit," says Akre Teal.

The microchips have room for more than just the medical record number. "This is just the initial roll-out. You could build a lot more on this card without going to a bigger chip," she says. The cards could hold a patient's healthcare proxy documentation, drug allergy list, or other clinical information that would help nursing or other medical staff.

Akre Teal conducted several focus groups during the pilot program and beginning phases of the roll-out, and all of the sessions returned positive feedback.

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