Elkin, NC (November 6, 2012) – As part of their concerted focus on patient safety , preventing duplicate medical records and overlays, and eliminating medical identity theft at the point of care, Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital announced today that it has adopted the RightPatient™ multi-biometric patient identification system with iris recognition as the preferred modality. RightPatient™ was launched in the Outpatient Admissions and Radiology departments with future plans for expansion to the Emergency Room and Physician practices.

RightPatient™ is the industry’s only multi-modal biometric patient identification system that supports fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein, iris and face recognition.  M2SYS Technology, the company that developed RightPatient™, brings a decade of diverse biometric technology experience to the healthcare industry.  With over 100 million enrolled users in more than 90 countries, M2SYS has applied its comprehensive knowledge of biometrics to RightPatient™, resulting in a feature-rich solution that overcomes patient identification challenges in an innovative and practical manner.

Initially, Hugh Chatham had invested in a biometric patient identification system that only supported palm vein biometrics, locking the hospital to a single biometric modality and biometric device.  Plus, the biometric system relied on “one-to-few” segmented biometric searches, which cannot entirely prevent duplicate medical records or identity fraud.  Furthermore, the palm vein scanner required physical contact, causing hygiene concerns within the hospital.

Conversely, Hugh Chatham discovered the RightPatient™ biometric patient identification system:

• Performs a fast “one-to-many” biometric search during patient enrollment and identification, which compares the captured biometric template against all stored templates.  This is the only way that hospitals can completely prevent duplicate medical records and eliminate fraud.
• Provides the option of saving the biometric images to establish a concrete audit trail of patient authentication activity
• Can be used on the entire patient population, including children under the age of five
• Requires no physical contact with the biometric device
• Provides a photograph that can be linked to a patient’s record for multi-factor authentication at every touch point throughout their ecosystem

“We have been pleased with our decision to switch from our old system to the RightPatient™ biometric patient identification system,” said Lee Powe, Director of Information Systems at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital. “The system offers a variety of very unique components and the installation process was quick and easy, requiring very little internal resources from our end. Plus, the technology has been well received by patients and staff, is extremely easy to use and truly guards patients against medical identity theft and the creation of duplicate medical records. We really liked the fact that a photo is linked to each patient’s record so Admissions staff, nurses and other healthcare professionals throughout the hospital can visually verify a patient’s identity at every touch point.”

“For those who are still unaware of biometric patient identification systems, this is the time to educate yourself on how this technology can be leveraged to raise patient safety levels, prevent duplicate medical records, eliminate medical identity theft and lower hospital liability,” commented Mizan Rahman, Founder and CEO of M2SYS Technology. “We are at a critical juncture right now in healthcare where hospitals and medical facilities need to completely understand the technology available for patient identification and how it actually works. I am very pleased that we are able to help Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital enhance their patient safety initiatives.”

Nestled in the western piedmont wine country of North Carolina, Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital has provided high quality medical care for residents over a distinguished 82-year history. A private, not-for-profit hospital, HCMH employs more than 940, and is served by more than 70 physicians representing 26 specialties or subspecialties.

With over a decade of experience and millions of end users in more than 97 countries worldwide, M2SYS Technology provides technology that makes biometric software affordable, simple to integrate and inexpensive to support.   The company continues to innovate, build, and deliver leading-edge enterprise biometric solutions that transform the industry and expand the applicability of biometric technology in the marketplace.  Recognized for numerous industry accolades, including Frost & Sullivan’s 2007 North American Biometrics Technology Innovation of the Year and the 2011 New Product Innovation Award, M2SYS invests in the prosperity of its partners by extending  technological prowess and business solutions to broaden value portfolios and better service customer requirements.  The M2SYS Corporate Blog can be found at blog.m2sys.com