Smart Card Alliance White Paper Provides Vision for Healthcare Identity Authentication and EMV Payments Convergence

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Feb. 25, 2016 -- At the same time as the U.S. continues its migration to EMV chip technology to reduce counterfeit card fraud, the healthcare industry is dealing with fraud at an all-time high, with billions of dollars lost annually. To address the clear need to increase security for healthcare identity authentication and payments, the Smart Card Alliance has released a new white paper “Healthcare Identity Authentication and Payments Convergence: A Vision for the Healthcare Industry.”

The white paper, developed by the Smart Card Alliance Health and Human Services Council, outlines a vision for healthcare identity authentication and payments convergence and provides insight into the opportunities and challenges afforded to the healthcare community as the U.S. continues to migrate to EMV. It is available for download at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/publications-healthcare-identity-authentication-and-payments-convergence-a-vision-for-the-healthcare-industry/.

“As the healthcare industry examines ways to increase security and reduce fraud, stakeholders should look at leveraging smart card technology, including the smart card terminal infrastructure supporting EMV payment cards being put in place today,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “This white paper details how adopting EMV payment acceptance systems and smart card technology-based identity authentication solutions can allow healthcare organizations to increase security, decrease payment vulnerability, reduce fraud and improve workflow.”

The emergence of the EMV-enabled point of sale (POS) infrastructure enables the convergence of healthcare identity authentication and payment; that is, for the healthcare industry to use available smart card and EMV technology to add healthcare identity authentication to the payments acceptance infrastructure. By leveraging the EMV migration and consequent shift in POS technology, healthcare smart cards and the hardware infrastructure to support them are becoming a reality.

This white paper describes four scenarios for convergence of healthcare identity authentication and payments, with each discussing integration requirements and benefits and risks of the approach, including:

• Two chip cards and one multi-application POS terminal
• One multi-application card and one multi-application POS terminal
• One chip card with “special” payment application
• Mobile healthcare transactions

By leveraging proven smart card-based technology, including the proven EMV payments infrastructure, the healthcare industry can increase security, decrease payment vulnerability, reduce fraud and improve workflow for healthcare entities.

Members from the Health and Human Services Council who participated in the development of the white paper included: ABnote; Ingenico; LifeMed ID Inc.; MasterCard; Verifone; Visa Inc.; and XTec, Incorporated.

In September 2015, the Smart Card Alliance released a white paper, “EMV 101 for the Healthcare Industry,” which provides additional information on the impact of EMV chip technology on healthcare. This white paper is available at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/publications-emv-101-for-the-healthcare-industry/.

The Health and Human Services Council has also organized a presentation for the upcoming HIMSS Annual Conference, “Patient Identity and Digital Record Matching: A New Approach,” which will take place on March 1 from 11:30am – 12:30 pm PT in the Sands Expo Convention Center’s Human Nature Theater.

For more information on the Health and Human Services Council, visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org/activities-councils-health-and-human-services/.

About the Smart Card Alliance
The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.

CONTACT:
Megan Shamas
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
[email protected]