Patient Authentication Loyalty (PAL) Cards

Benefits Summary

Patient Authentication Loyalty (PAL) cards can be used for admissions, insurance verification, payment settlement, marketing, and many other patient/customer related areas in your facility.  PAL cards improve quality of service for patients and reduce administrative costs for health care institutions.  At one time, this type of technology was difficult to implement and cost prohibitive.  Patient identification concerns, like HIPAA, have driven a movement towards end-to-end solutions that are more user friendly and less dependent on already stretched IT resources.  Also, in recent years the cost of equipment, software, and supplies has been trending downward, reducing the time for return on investment.

An effective PAL card solution allows for the storage of vital patient information and for electronic access to a health care provider’s patient database using either a pre-issued plastic card or a patient’s driver’s license. 

Justification by the Numbers

• Industry estimates suggest there are 5-15% duplicate medical records in a database of 500,000-1,000,000.
• Direct cost to detect and correct duplicate records is estimated at $20 per duplicate, up to several hundred dollars.
• Using an example of a database of 500,000 records, a duplicate rate of 10%, and a cost of $20 each to correct, the total cost of duplicate records is $1,000,000!
• Studies estimate that 50-90% of claim denials could be prevented by securing accurate patient information at registration.
• Accurate and non-duplicated records are vital as the industry moves toward Electronic Health Records.
• Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) anticipates future $2.2 billion per year savings for compliant, machine readable cards.
• Healthcare identity theft and fraud is a multi-billion dollar problem.

How It Works

A patient comes to your facility to register.  If they already have a PAL card, they swipe their card at a card reader terminal.  A medical record number, name, or other data stored on the card accesses the correct patient record in your patient database.  The registration process takes less time, and the possibility of creating a duplicate medical record is greatly reduced.  On their computer screen, personnel can review the information retrieved from the database, update any pertinent information, and then proceed efficiently through the remainder of the admissions process.

In the event that a regular patient arrives without their PAL card, the patient’s state issued driver’s license can be scanned for their name/birth date for the retrieval of patient records in your database.  If the person is a first time patient, information from their driver’s license can be scanned to begin the registration process, and the remaining required information can be entered manually.

PAL cards can either be issued on-demand within the admitting department, or any other department in your healthcare facility.  Inexpensive plastic cards pre-printed with your institution’s logo and other marketing signage can be quickly personalized and handed over the counter to your patients within seconds.  A PAL card is a powerful marketing tool (basically a pocket sized billboard) and a patient identification card.  Cost justifiable due to increased efficiencies and image justifiable due to greater market presence for your provider network; a PAL card solution gives your organization a strategic competitive advantage over other healthcare providers. 

For more information please contact me using the form at the bottom of this blog.


Here Is A Front and Back Card Example