Smart Cards for Future Healthcare Systems. Secure, efficient, reliable

Transcription

1 Smart Cards for Future Healthcare Systems Secure, efficient, reliable

2 Card-based e-health networks: cutting costs and improving care All around the world, newspaper headlines warn about the exploding costs of healthcare. Advanced medicines and technology are boosting life expectancy. As a result, people can now look forward to living past the age of 80 twice as long as 100 years ago. This trend, however, has the side effect of driving up healthcare costs. As people get older, they need more frequent and more expensive care, causing the price of insurance to skyrocket. Clearly, something needs to be done to contain these costs. A number of countries have implemented conventional measures aimed at saving money. One of the most basic measures is the introduction of card-based e-health networks, which can help reduce costs remarkably. How to cut healthcare costs 1. Reduce fraud 2. Streamline administration 3. Improve communication 4. Enhance quality Every project carried out by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has shown that efficient card based e-health networks have three main components: a Patient Data Card for the insured, the Health Professional Card for physicians and pharmacists, and a Card Application Management System (CAMS). Patient Data Card The Patient Data Card is a PIN protected smart card incorporating a microprocessor and protected by cryptographic functions. It contains administrative insurance information and entitles patients to seek medical treatment. In turn, the patients give their doctors access to their personal medical data, which is stored either on the card or in the e-health network. The card can also hold information such as electronic prescriptions. 2

3 Health Professional Card The Health Professional Card is a person specific ID with a picture used by physicians and pharmacists. Like a key, it allows the holder to unlock patient data stored on the card and/or in the e health network. It comes with an electronic signature for use on electronic documents such as e prescriptions. Card Application Management System (CAMS) It takes a powerful e health network to introduce a healthcare insurance card system. Naturally, this platform includes physical components such as cards, kiosks, card readers, and computer servers. However, it also contains a card application management system to monitor the cards as they are being used and their contents updated. G&D s CAMS provides issuers with end to end lifecycle management for the cards from initial data collection and personalization to cancellation at the end of the lifecycle. It supports patient data updates, card renewal, and the uploading of new applications using an online connection over a high performance network. Using one system to manage these tasks for millions of cardholders keeps costs down. G&D s CAMS consists of the following modules Card management system Data preparation Application management Post issuance personali zation Key management 3

4 Tailored approaches for local requirements Card issuers may also add optional applications, such as emergency data, health records, electronic signature, or bonus programs. Germany s e health card project is being managed primarily by a commercial enterprise established by leading healthcare industry organizations. Together, they are working to successfully roll out more than 72 million Patient Data Cards. Benefits of Germany s new system: Considerable reduction in fraud, thanks to the inclusion of a photo and online verification of the card s validity. Germany In 2006, the German Parliament passed healthcare modernization legislation that required the introduction of Patient Data and Health Professional Cards. The law defines the electronic Patient Data Card in detail: it contains a photo of the insured person printed on the front, the holder s basic data (printed on the surface and stored in more detail on the chip), and on the reverse side, the mandatory information according to the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Improved communication and information sharing by eliminating media discontinuity in prescriptions. Decreased occurrence of adverse medical interactions by providing medication history. Expected to save more than 500 million euros annually and cut down on the number of accidental deaths resulting from crossover reactions. Reduction of administration costs e.g. by automatically updating copayment status information. 4

5 The dangers of medication crossover reactions Clinical drug tests usually focus on the medicines themselves. In the field, however, drugs might be taken in combination with other medications. If the drugs react with one an other a crossover reaction they could produce undesirable side effects. Inter national studies have concluded that more than 500 million euros could be saved annually by introducing a detection and warning system for cross over reactions. Austria The Main Association of the Austrian Social Insurance Institutions introduced a healthcare smart card dubbed the e card. G&D won the contract for the entire project: design, development, issue, and introduction of the personalization and lettershop system for all chip cards with a minimum service life of 7 years. G&D produced and shipped 8.4 million Patient Data Cards for the insured and 30,000 Health Professional Cards within a period of 6 months. Rolled out from 2010 onwards, these cards belong to the third e-card generation. The card s operating system and memory will make it easy to upload applications in the field later on. Detection of medication crossover reactions will be incorporated for several test regions. To unleash its full potential, the card must be connected online to a background system. Switzerland G&D has been supplying Swiss Post with chip modules for Switzerland s health insurance cards since the start of System architecture and application scenarios in a PKI environment have been key focal points here. The total project volume is seven million cards, issued over a seven-year period. Products and solutions developed by G&D for the German healthcare market formed the basis of this project, enabling smooth and rapid implementation. These included the smartcard itself, the card application management software (CAMS), and essential software components for PCs (middleware). The chip modules were used in their certified form as approved by the German Digital Signature Act (SigG/SigV). The e card can generate electronic signatures and be used as citizen ID card. 5

6 G&D helps find the right solution for card-based e-health networks As these examples show, there is no one size fits all solution. Each approach is very different and must be adapted to local requirements. As a capable partner with extensive experience in the e health network sector, G&D can execute large scale projects from start to finish. We provide initial consultations to identify the ideal design with you. G&D can provide a turnkey solution as the general contractor, handle ongoing system operations as an outsourcing partner, or supply components as a vendor. System architecture of a card-based e-health network Doctor s office Secure health network Healthcare provider Issue Pharmacy Status inquiry, directory services, card database Status inquiry E-prescription Medication log Health Professional Card Certificate authority Referral letters Security transaction and other services Electronic patient health record Health insurer Issue Hospital Patient Data Card Card Application Management System 6

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8 RDN 11/11 E 1000 Art.-Nr Giesecke & Devrient GmbH Prinzregentenstrasse 159 P.O. Box Munich GERMANY Phone: +49 (0) Fax: +49 (0) health@gi-de.com Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, 2011 All technical data subject to change without notice.g&d/gao patents.