The upsurge of the Covid-19 pandemic changed the working dimensions globally. This has increased the probability of attacks by fraudsters in recent times. Criminals are providing damage to every sector including the healthcare industry. In which the prime target of fraudsters is usually the patients. Cases of identity theft in hospitals are rising, creating troublesome consequences in the healthcare sector. Prescribing too much medication, impersonating an identity of a patient to avail of free services. Also misusing confidential medical documents are some major raising concerns prevailing in the digital era. This put attention on the increased vulnerability of data branches causing harm to the general public utmost. To deter all these issues in an efficient way. It is feasible for healthcare industries to instigate patient verification services to verify patient identity in the most authentic and adequate way. 

The Intriguing Working Mechanism of Know Your Patient (KYP)

As researchers extensively use data corresponding to a particular patient. To devise better treatments and develop new drugs for the patients. It is liable that patients get verified before they are onboarded. In this aspect, an AI-based Know Your Patient (KYP) can be used as a great assistance. The working mechanism for proceeding with identifying patients digitally is simple as 

• Users are required to upload an official document such as a driver’s license, passport. Or an ID document in which their genuine identity information can be detected. 
• This is followed by submitting a live selfie for confirming the facial recognition of the patient. 
• The picture and the information in the files are cross-matched to generate results on whether the individual is actually who they claim to be or not. 
• Another significant function carried out during this procedure is undergoing the patient’s age verification. It is quite beneficial for the pharmacies in detecting the ID of the minors before selling them any age-restricted drug. 

Drawbacks of Manual Patient Verification

Since digitization has taken over the world, businesses have shifted towards incorporating the electronic methods of dealing with their customers. A similar approach has been adopted by the medical industry. Manual methods of verifying patients’ identities have proven to be fatal as fraudsters. They have devised new loopholes for manipulating the healthcare sector. Moreover, it has its own major setbacks due to which it has been diminished. 

• Multiple incidents of data breaches used to occur due to the dishonesty of the medical workers. In addition to this, manual data entry caused several typing mistakes. which resulted in registering faulty patient data into the systems. 
• Compliance professionals were hired to determine the authenticity of the patient. This consumed a lot of time since manual teams took their time to check each document individually. 
• Physically storing data was prone to get either stolen or damaged due to various accidents. which was presumed as an unreliable option for safekeeping medical and insurance data. 
• The time and cost consumed in verifying the patient identity reflected many healthcare departments’ switch to digitally based Know Your Patient services.

Fraudsters are leaving no stone unturned in harming every sector constituting the involvement of finances and personal identities. Some of the common types of fraud carried out in the healthcare industry are mentioned below:

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Data Breaches

Since the hospital staff has access to all the patient records. While pretending to check the information regarding the patient they can purposely steal confidential data or leak patient information on online websites. Therefore, it is essential to implement a highly secured system to identify patients and the hospital’s chance to minimize data breaches.

Phishing Crimes

Spam emails are sent to the patient on their digital accounts fooling them to enter their personal data while hacking their information. Many fake advertisements are displayed on the sites of hospitals or pharmacies. That exploits users by installing ransomware into their systems. 

Identity Thefts

The information obtained from the above-mentioned crimes is then used by fraudsters to carry out identity thefts. It is vital to enforce ID verification for pharmacies to check. That they are providing medicines and other related drugs to the actual customer presenting a genuine prescription consisting of no alterations being made to it. 

Wrapping it Up

Even though the healthcare industry is expanding throughout the world. Many healthcare providers are still lagging in executing stringent techniques to imply patient verification services. Data breaches, phishing crimes, and ransomware are upsurging at an alarming rate in the medical industry making it challenging for patients to avail of medical services. Digitally based Know Your Patient solution has become the talk of the town ever. Since it has suppressed the ineffective manual patient verification services. Due to its robust solutions, it is considered to be the best solution for pharmacies, hospitals, and other relevant industries for preventing medical identity thefts.