Smart cards and other types of “subscriber identity tokens” can be an effective tool to reduce medical identity theft, improve privacy, combat fraud by both claim submitters and patients and enable patient matching in health care provider systems.

The Winter 2014 issue of Regarding ID magazine looks at the rise of mobile identity; possible revisions to the four levels of assurance; how the airport of the future will identify travelers; a look at PIV-I and CIV; new certification for physical access control and the latest NSTIC pilot winners.

More devices are becoming Internet enabled and this poses both challenges and risks. The data these devices produce needs to be secured but this same data could also be used as attributes for authentication to computers and networks.

Health care is looking to secure access to patient records and many different technologies have been deployed. Prox cards are one technology that has been used by some in health care and has some issues when being used for network access.

Health care providers are starting to see the benefit of using biometrics for patient identification. These benefits include: less fraud, fewer duplicate records, shorter wait times. M2SYS Technology’s Michael Trader and Novant Health’s Melanie Wilson chat with Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan about biometrics in health care.

CrossChx is helping health care organization resolve duplicate records and then ties fingerprint biometrics to the record that can be retrieved from any health care provider that is using CrossChx.

Near field communication is in the spotlight right now as an payments technology but it also has untold potentials. A rapid growth will drive a shift from mobile payments to adventurous, interactive marketing and authentication services. If NFC is included in a device, using it can be simple, requiring no modification to devices or downloading apps. Embedding tags enables consumers to interact with nearly any item or document in new ways. These “Internet of Things” applications include tapping a smart poster for an interactive brand experience, authenticating the value of a luxury item or verifying the presence of a health care provider.

The Fall 2014 Regarding ID magazine is available for viewing online. Read about identity and the Internet of Things, Bring Your Own Identity, vulnerability in two-factor authentication and doodling your way to secure access.