Contactless and RFID readers have long been used by hospitals for time and attendance and logical access applications, but their use is growing rapidly for cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance as well.

Readers deliver user authentication to ensure that only authorized personnel can access patient health records, change settings on medical devices or gain access to restricted medications, equipment or supplies

User authentication deficiencies, endpoint data leakage and excessive user permissions are the three most common cybersecurity risks facing health systems and hospitals, according to the Clearwater CyberIntelligence Institute. Contactless readers can help address all three of these risks by strengthening user authentication for both physical and logical access control applications.

According to reader manufacturer ELATEC, its readers are already widely used for secure print management and other healthcare ecosystem applications such as time and attendance, computer single sign-on, room scheduling, pharmaceutical and high-value supplies dispensing, and medical equipment access control. But the use is rapidly expanding for cybersecurity.

“Access control is critical for healthcare institutions in order to protect patient safety and meet stringent HIPAA requirements for medical information privacy,” says a company spokesperson. “Readers are an effective and efficient means of user authentication to ensure that only authorized personnel can access patient health records, change settings on medical devices or gain access to restricted medications, equipment or supplies.”

The case against passwords is well documented and the health care industry is taking note. For hospitals, passwords create security risks, unnecessary IT burden, and slow down the service delivery process.

For hospitals and health care systems seeking to implement access control beyond the front door and eliminate passwords, ELATEC offers readers that can recognize and decode more than 60 contactless and RFID card types as well as smartphone options including Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Near-field Communication. They are also certified for use in 110 countries, which means that large hospital systems that use multiple card technologies across different locations can rely on a single reader.

“We describe ELATEC’s readers as being future proof,” explains John Tepley, President of ELATEC USA, Inc. “There are numerous technologies used for various applications throughout the region and the world, which means companies that want to integrate RFID into their solutions must be prepared to handle many different RFID transponder technologies.”

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