Accurate patient identification in healthcare has been always a subject of concerns, which has gained momentum and urgency because of the rapid digitization of the healthcare industry. Increasing interoperability drives the possibility of patient data-matching errors or mismatching, which can jeopardize patient safety and artificially inflate the cost of care.

Facial recognition applications have been expanded into the healthcare and providing with levels of security to it. The AI-powered facial recognition has also allowed healthcare executives to use it beyond security purpose. Following are some of the potential uses of facial recognition technology in the health industry:

Biometric authentication: One of the common uses of facial recognition technology is system and biometric authentication. The technology supports the use of computer cameras to detect and authenticate users who attempt to log in. Some advanced facial recognition systems meet the additional security requirements around multifactor authentication and reduce the number of steps needed in a traditional password-based authentication practice.  

Securing hospitals facilities: Hospital authority can use the technology to detect and identify individuals of interest by scanning all visitors that enter the hospital facility. The technology allows comparing each individual to a list of flagged ones. Also, it allows the hospitals to identify individuals who may be drug seekers or previously ejected individuals whom the hospitals are no longer allowing to access the facility.

Emotion detection and sentiment analysis: Another important use of facial recognition is real-time emotion detection. It detects and identifies a number of emotions patients exhibit during their hospital stay and analyzes the data to catch their feeling. The results help to identify where patients may need more attention if they are in pain.

Analyzing hospital traffic pattern: The technology aids hospitals to run applications through its facility and detect traffic patterns that include statistics around patients and visitors based on age and gender. Also, allows a hospital to track patients without using any physical tracking devices. This helps to locate patients in nursing homes or outpatients assisted living facilities.

Nowadays patients expect providers to ensure privacy and protect their personal information. The use of biometric and facial technology benefits organizations and patients leading to higher patient satisfaction, security, and better health outcomes.