A Boost For Biometrics???

Ever since the beginning of this year, the Stimulus Bill was all the rage in Washington, DC, and lately its has been Healthcare Reform, and the myriad of complexities and issues that go along with it.  Well, it seems like that the Security Industry (not necessarily just Biometrics) is also jumping on the bandwagon of healthcare reform.

For instance, The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council, which is composed of close to 100 individuals (representing a broad range of industries from Smart Cards to various End Users to Software Security Vendors, etc.) is now discussing that the Security impacts of Healthcare Reform will be on top of its agenda for 2010, along with Cybersecurity issues as well.

Some details of this new founded attention to Healthcare:  “The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council will turn its attention to cybersecurity and healthcare identity in the upcoming year . . . This past year, the Identity Council collaborated with the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council on a number of projects, including a National Press Club briefing in Washington, DC, last May. The purpose of the briefing was to raise awareness of the importance of privacy, access and identity in the Obama administration’s effort to modernize the nation’s healthcare information infrastructure. The two Councils also collaborated on the brief, ‘Effective Healthcare Identity Management: A Necessary First Step for Improving U.S. Healthcare Information Systems – A Smart Card Alliance Brief for Government Policy Makers and Other Stakeholders.’”  (SOURCE: http://findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/7353/).

Final Thoughts On Today’s Posting

There will be a huge Smart Cards Conference (it is called the “Smart Card Alliance 8th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference”) to be held in Washington, DC later this month, and I know Healthcare Reform and its impacts on Security will be a very hot topic to be debated and discussed.

Apparently, I did not realize this, but the IT Sector in Healthcare is actually getting funding of up to $19 Billion from the Stimulus Bill.  But again, not to get political, this is just piecemeal spending like the DHS getting some $3 Billion for better securing this country.  The complexities and issues of IT in Healthcare is obviously not as big or great as the whole concept of Healthcare Reform is, but its going take a lot more than just $19 Billion to fix the legacy IT systems, and make them better.

On another point, who is to say that this $19 Billion won’t  just go to another country who is outsourced to take care of our Healthcare IT Systems?  Nobody has really said how this money is going to be specifically spent.

However the Healthcare Reform looks in the end, even if Legislation is passed and does take place, I think it could be a big boon for the Security and Biometrics Industry.  Probably one of the most important Security issues to come out of this will be privacy, protection, and confidentiality of Patient data  and information, as new Healthcare Systems are introduced.

In terms of Biometrics, I think the single Biometric Technology which will probably receive the greatest lift will be the Single Sign Solutions, as nobody wants to remember the hundreds of passwords which are currently required to access Patient information and data.

Finally, equally important to consider is how Biometrics Contracts will be awarded to the various Biometric Vendors as Healthcare Legislation is passed.  For example, will the Federal Government use their current model, or use something entirely different, which will be fair to all Biometric Vendors so they can claim their stake in wealth of Healthcare Reform???

Source for this Posting:  http://findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/7353/