MAITLAND, Fla. — Galvanon announced in a news release that Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cottage Health System will implement its MediKiosk solution to automate the patient registration process at its facilities. Cottage Health System will use the patient self-service kiosks, which will be equipped with biometric fingerprint imaging capabilities provided by NEC Solutions (America) Inc., to instantly and accurately identify patients during the check-in process.
"Ensuring accurate patient identification minimizes the potential for errors and creates a safer healthcare system," said Alberto Kywi, chief information officer at Cottage Health System. "This innovative technology delivers a reliable and efficient method for streamlining the patient check-in process and enables our organization to continue providing the highest possible standard of care."
Upon arrival at the facility, patients will have the option of providing a thumbprint or swiping a driver's license, credit card or membership card directly on the kiosk to begin checking-in. Patients can then use the kiosks to update demographic and insurance information, sign consent forms and make co-payments. Once checked in, front office staff is notified of the patient's arrival.
"With traditional paper-based registration processes, properly identifying patients is a significant challenge," said Greg Sarrail, director of sales and marketing at NEC Solutions America/Healthcare Solutions Division. "When fingerprint recognition is used in combination with automated applications like Galvanon's MediKiosk, healthcare organizations have the ability to eliminate duplicate patient records, reduce medical errors and enhance patient safety."
Galvanon's MediKiosk is part of a comprehensive suite of products that allows hospitals and clinics to provide patient self-service capabilities such as pre-registration via the Web, online BillPay and eClipboards, Galvanon's wireless patient check-in solution.
