Avert the Healthcare Data Infringements with Robust Know Your Patient

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By: SK masum

For patient identification, Know Your Patient (KYP) verification protects the patient information by proving the patient is the same person as in the record. This not only avoidscorruption but also enables the healthcare givers to apply the digital solutions to enhance the delivery of services in their healthcare facilities.

Of course, healthcare data is quite voluminous and securing such information that seems to be personal routine of every person requires enhanced security. The demand in the industry for Know Your Patient (KPY) solutions arises following the 707 data breaches that threatened the privacy of millions of patients within 2022 alone. This highlights the need for both secure data management and thorough patient verification to ensure compassionate information remains protected.

This article will explore the KYP, patient verification, and risk assessments. 

Key Features of the Blog 

  • What is KYP?
  • Comprehending the concept of digitally identifying patient  
  • How does Verify patient identity work?
  • Determine patient eligibility verification
  • Why patient risk assessment is essential?
  • Benefits of Identifying Patients 

What is KYP?

Know Your Patient (KYP) is a by-product of Know Your Customer (KYC), and it works almost similarly to it.  Know Your Patient can be simply defined as verifying the identities of the healthcare inmates who are admitted to the hospital or coming for a medical check-up.  The KYP can be leveraged when the patient is onboard and monitors them during their interactions with the healthcare institution. 

The healthcare industry is massive and convoluted, and it has data on thousands of patients on a daily basis. It deals with sensitive information, and that is why it is crucial for them to opt for an appropriate due diligence process to ensure secure data management.

What is Meant By Digitally Identifying Patients?

Digitally identifying patients, done online to access healthcare services, can be achieved through Know Your Patient (KYP) verification. KYP comes in two flavors: manual and digital. Manual verification involves checking a patient’s documents against the hospital’s database, while digital verification utilizes automated technology for online confirmation.

The patient snaps a picture of their ID along with a selfie.

The automated Know Your Patient (KYP) verification software retrieves personal information from the ID and compares it with the details provided.

Employing liveness detection technology, the system conducts biometric authentication to prevent fraud, including deepfakes, and ensure precision.

Age verification can be incorporated as a final step to verify the client’s age and determine eligibility for specific services.

The functionality of Verify Patient Identity

Know Your Patient has basically 2 type of methods of verify patient identity, and they work primarily like this: 

The first step in protecting patient data comes during initial intake and onboarding at the hospital.  Here, patients provide personal information like name, social security number, date of birth, and insurance details. This information is then checked through various methods like government databases, document verification, or even facial recognition. This initial identity verification is crucial to prevent fraud like health insurance scams, medical identity theft, and misuse of Medicare/Medicaid benefits.

Ongoing Verification: Existing patients undergo the procedure of ongoing verification. This type of Know Your Patient can be accomplished by re-verifying the inmates to ensure their identities before their procedure. It is a streamlined method for lower-risk scenarios. The selfie verification can be used to identify the user by comparing it with their identity documents. This can enhance the patient’s experience in healthcare, which mitigates various frauds and ensures that the right patient is getting the proper treatment.

What Are the Methods of Patient Eligibility Verification?

Eligibility and benefits is a critical process through which practices ensure that they obtain essential information such as coverages, copayment schedules, deductibles, and co-insurance from the patients’ insurance carriers. This task forms part of the revenue cycle management (RCM), which are the key processes involved when managing the revenues of a practice to ensure they are paid. By confirming pre-hospital care eligibility, the hospitals are well placed to establish whether the patient has insurance cover and provide demographics on insurance claims.

The Importance of Patient Risk Assessment

Patient risk assesment is crucial in ensuring hospitals disseminate sensitive medical information, like test results, and prescriptions with the rightful patient, not fraudsters. Know Your Patient can also elevate the prevalent quality and efficiency of the healthcare service.

For this cause, patient risk assesment can help the health and insurance sector ensure:

Onboard all patients with verified identities 

Move existing patients from in-person visits to mobile applications and online platforms.

Protect the healthcare company’s reputation.

Prevent data breaches and other illegitimate activities.

Benefits of Identifying Patients 

Know Your Patient enables healthcare institutions to safeguard susceptible patient information. It also aids in decreasing the rate of medical identity theft and health insurance fraud. The proper implementation of hospital onboarding procedures can ensure a more convenient and efficient procedure for patients. Here are all a few advantages of Know Your Patient:

Protecting Sensitive Information 

Preventing Insurance Fraud

Ensuring Accuracy in Patient Data

Shorten the Patient’s Waiting Time

Improve the Patient Experience

Final Words 

This paper helps to solve an important problem – the protection of healthcare data and patient confidence. Strong Know Your Patient (KYP) processes are critical for success in these two areas. Healthcare organizations can mitigate the risks of fraudulent activities by enhancing quality and efficiency. The healthcare services embrace digital identification methods and conduct comprehensive patient verification through KYP.  Know Your Patient helps organizations remotely onboard patients and transition seamlessly to digital platforms. It also prevents data breaches and criminal activities, upholds their reputation, and ensures compliance. 

About SK masum

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