LAS VEGAS—Despite all the digital innovation in healthcare, a visit to the doctor's office often entails filling out forms on a clipboard and repetitive paperwork.
At the same time, patients who want to schedule an appointment online or access medical data are required to complete multiple log-ins on different patient portals.
Clear, a company well recognized for its biometric identity verification tech used in airports, wants to fix these pain points.
The company is partnering with Verato, a cloud-based patient matching platform, to accelerate the adoption of digital identity in healthcare to reduce friction, save time and reduce costs. The use of digital identity tech can make the patient experience more seamless wile protecting data security and privacy, according to the company.
Working together, Clear and Verato will connect the identity verification process at the digital "front door" with back-end data management platforms.
“Clear is on a mission to make experiences safer and easier. In healthcare, that means we're putting you in control of your medical information with a single sign-on account that you can access with the snap of a selfie – no forms, fax machines, or multiple logins required," said Caryn Seidman Becker, CEO of Clear, in a statement.
The technology connects patients’ disparate health information, from insurance information to credit cards and electronic medical records, using a single sign-on, HIPAA-compliant account. Patients are prompted for a selfie and a photo of their government-issued ID, followed by some basic questions that allow them to opt-in to securely access, control and share their own personal health information with authorized users, according to a Clear blog post.
The company cut its teeth in a highly regulated industry—aviation security—and now has 17 million members, according to Clear.
“CLEAR’s approach to digital identity proofing and consumer verification is a natural complement to Verato’s robust enterprise identity data management capabilities,” Clay Ritchey, CEO of Verato said in a statement. “Our collaboration will empower organizations to securely implement modern digital front door strategies by providing consumers and patients with the tools to securely manage access to their digital health information — ultimately improving care delivery, patient outcomes and the patient experience.”
The healthcare system remains buried in antiquated manual processes and fragmented databases, Caryn Seidman Becker, CEO of Clear said. "We’re excited to partner with Verato to bring CLEAR’s universal health identity to more patients and providers.”
Along with reducing paperwork and duplication for patients, digital identity tech can also help address patient misidentification issues. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office noted that 45% of large hospitals reported difficulty accurately identifying patients through electronic health information—a scenario that threatens patient safety and disrupts efforts to coordinate care.
Trusted identity also s essential to the success of many healthcare organizations’ most pressing strategic initiatives, including health information exchanges (HIEs) serving broader public health goals or health systems implementing cloud data warehousing and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, according to the companies.
Verato developed a purpose-built healthcare master data management solution that provides clinical-grade accuracy, high levels of data security and built-in data enrichment to fill critical gaps in patient and provider records, according to the company.
The health tech company works with providers, payers, health information exchange organizations and others to connect and manage data.
“As one of the largest public HIEs in the region, aggregating patient information across over 8,000 sources for over 20 million patients, the ability to correctly identify and manage digital identities across such a complex ecosystem is a formidable challenge,” notes Todd Rogow, CEO of Healthix. “The vision of Verato and Clear to partner to achieve trusted and comprehensive identity data management will support the industry by providing decidedly accurate and reliable information.”
Also during HLTH this week, Clear unveiled a partnership with b.well Connected Health to embed its technology to help patients better access and control their fragmented health data with a single, connected account. The tech will reduce the need for repetitive log-ins.
When booking travel, paying bills or shopping online, consumers can typically access all the information they need in one place and get what they need with just a few clicks.
Healthcare typically doesn't have that same seamless experience. It's often a maze of logins and fractured data, Kristen Valdes, CEO and founder of b.well.
"We aim to make healthcare as convenient as every other aspect of our digital lives and believe everyone should be able to manage their health from one place and only have to log in once. That's the future we're building, and it starts today," she said.
b.well was an early integrator of identity-proofing solutions into its consumer health platform, allowing it to incorporate verified demographics for enhanced security and patient data matching.
The integration between b.well and Clear will offer a unified digital identity across multiple healthcare organizations. It will also add further security and verified demographics through the use of new technology and backend identity verification of attributes on a user's government-issued ID and a selfie.
“Our partnership with Clear is more than just a technological alliance; it's a leap toward alleviating 'portal-itis,' a friction point for consumers to access their information. We are introducing a unified, federated identity solution that simplifies the consumer experience while providing robust data security, “Valdes said.