HIC hospitals reduce medical errors with new palm-vein scanning initiative

Hospitals in New York are currently working together to eliminate medical errors and improve clinical outcomes with new cutting-edge technology in place. As members of the Hospitals Insurance Company Program (HIC), Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, Montefiore Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, Mount Sinai Health System, and White Plains Hospital launched a palm-vein scanning initiative with Imprivata PatientSecure® in order to positively identify patients at registration and throughout treatment.

The HIC Program provides an active forum for clinicians to collaborate on industry issues that they’re looking to improve upon in order to provide quality care to their patients. One such collaboration is a palm-vein scanning initiative within their radiation oncology departments and cancer centers to ensure positive patient identification for patients who come in frequently for treatments. Having Imprivata PatientSecure at the registration desk allows hospitals to create a 1:1 link between patients and their unique medical record by scanning their palms and associating those scans with the patients’ records. In addition to improving patient safety, the technology also allows them to reduce the creation of duplicate medical records in their system.

Studies show that about 27% of all errors in radiation oncology are attributed to incorrectly identifying patients. At Mount Sinai Hospital, the Department of Radiation Oncology has reduced the number of medical errors to zero by using Imprivata PatientSecure to accurately identify their patients before they receive treatment. With these encouraging results, members of the HIC Program are now looking to expand the use of Imprivata PatientSecure to their emergency rooms as well.