State legislators in New York have proposed a biometric system that would help verify a patient’s identity if they are using Medicaid in an effort to curb the fraud that has resulted in $5 billion annually lost in the state, according to a WNYT News Channel 13 article.

The proposed legislation would require users of the Medicaid system, both on the side of the health care provider and patient, to use smart cards embedded with data on the patient’s biometric to authenticate his identity before filing any paperwork related to the medical claim.

As fraud is not believed to only be coming from the patients but also the providers, the cards would also be required to maintain a record of transactions so that false records could not be created without an audit trail being available. The cost of converting to such a system is estimated at around $20 million with advocates claiming that the savings would pay for the system.

Read the full story here.