Healthcare in the United States is a mess and people, in both the public and private sector, are trying to find solutions. One of the most promising solutions is not a big overarching change, but something small enough to fit in your wallet.

Imagine a card that would contain your Electronic Medical Record (EMR), your insurance information, and your prescription information, additionally, this card would provide more security for your personal health information than your ATM card provides for your bank account.  Smart cards offer a secure solution for patient identification.

One of the biggest issues with the United States’ health care system is its growing costs. Smart Cards can help reduce costs by significantly trimming administrative overhead.  In France, an early adopter of smart cards in the health care industry, administrative costs fell by 67%.  Due to the portability of the Smart Cards, a new physician is able to gain access to a patient’s complete medical history. This reduces unnecessary duplicate testing, such as expensive MRIs, Ultrasounds, and CAT scans.  Most importantly because Smart Cards require multi-factor authentication, medical identity theft and fraud will be reduced. Medical Identity theft is on the rise with over 500,000 Americans becoming victims according to the World Privacy Forum.  Medical identity theft is extremely costly and threatens the lives of patients.

Smart card enabled EMRs offer solutions to many of the most pressing problems in our health care system. The solution is relatively inexpensive, costing approximately $4 per patient. With an interoperable system for health care information technology, like that of ATMs or credit cards, we can protect sensitive personal health information while reducing costs and improving the quality of care. Read more about implementing smart card technology in health care in a recent Newsweek article.