The National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced a fourth round of grant awards in support of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). One of the winners is HealthIDx, which is developing a privacy-enhancing technology that protects patients’ identity and information.

Health care could be one of the best opportunities for biometric vendors, according to a report from consultancy Tractica.

Hospitals and health care organizations across the country are starting to rollout biometric technology to identify patients, reduce identity theft problems and solve the problem of duplicate medical records.

RightPatient and HealthCast Inc. have partnered to combine a biometric patient identification and patient safety platform with a single sign-on solution to secure access to personal health information; Winfrasoft announced the launch of its Remote Desktop Agent that takes advantage of its PINgrid solution to deliver two-factor authentication; GlobalSign announced the launch of an Enterprise Reseller Program to broaden its distribution channels.

Precise Biometrics has won an order for Tactivo from an English National Health Service Foundation Trust; Intercede is teaming up with Citrix to offer Intercede’s Citrix Ready MyID technology to XenMobile customers; The Department of Public Safety’s Fingerprint Applicant Services of Texas program will expand its current network of 93 enrollment facilities to include 55 new locations.

LastPass is enabling its users with the Apple watch to have access to their passwords and secure notes through the new device; Encap Security announced support for Samsung’s fingerprint scanner as part the 3.0 version release of its Smarter Authentication platform; Meditab Inc. has chosen Exostar’s ProviderPass to extend delivery of electronic prescription for controlled substances functionality.

The Cromwell Las Vegas decided to use the combination of the LEGIC Connect trusted service, Kaba Mobile Access Solutions and Bluetooth Low Energy for easy access; SAFE-BioPharma Association announced creation of SBP Digital Trust Consulting; GMO GlobalSign is working with AirWatch by VMware; Entrust Datacard announced a new push authentication capability in its Entrust IdentityGuard Mobile platform; Identiv Inc. showcased its Internet of Things security solutions and to preview uTrust Message.

MedImpact, a pharmacy benefit manager, is enabling physicians to use the FIDO Alliance protocol to use biometrics for access to patient prescription records.

Legic had launched IDConnect, an ID aggregation service that enables a consumer to use a smart phone with any LEGIC advant and NXP mifare application; the SAFE-BioPharma Trust Framework has approved Exostar as a Full Service Credential Service Provider; sharing passwords is common in the finance world with almost a quarter – 24% – of employees lending their credentials to other employees.

HID Global tapped for multi-factor authentication project in Poland; the latest government smart card predictions; Cross Match available via UK’s G-Cloud CloudStore; SeureKey and Oberthur Technologies partner on mobile identity initiative and Gemalto supporting African health project.