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Microsoft Seeks RFID Support for HealthVault
Independent of HealthVault, RFID tags—both active and passive—are being used by the health-care industry to locate patients, staff and high-value equipment, track and verify the authenticity of prescriptions drugs in the supply chain and ensure that patients receive the proper medication and treatment. In some cases, RFID is also being employed in smart-card technology for access to secure areas or data.
With HealthVault, says Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of theSmart Card Alliance data security will need to be a top priority. "Microsoft will need to provide a sound method for the medical establishment to log in a secure way," he says. "Accessing HealthVault means, I would hope, strong security technology like smart cards." Microsoft has supported the use of smart-card technology in the past, he adds, as a method for securing data.
To retrieve medical records stored in HealthVault, Vanderhoof predicts, a medical professional would likely use an ID card containing a microchip encoded with a unique ID number to access data on the Web browser. That chip could use RFID technology to transmit its data, Vanderhoof speculates, but would not require it. "Those [RFID] applications are primarily used with high volumes of people where speed is a concern," he says.
One health-care data-tracking systems provider currently using RFID is MedicAlert, which has been testing an RFID bracelet used to access important health-care information about the bracelet's wearer (see MedicAlert Aims to RFID-Enable Medical Records) and VeriChip. VeriChip's VeriMed system utilizes RFID chip implants to identify patients and operates a password-protected online database for storing those patients' medical information. (VeriChip has not responded to calls from RFID Journal regarding HealthVault.)
Ramesh Srinivasan, MedicAlert's VP of business development, says he has been following the HealthVault release and views Microsoft as a potential partnership. MedicAlert bracelets include an RFID chip on which a user's unique ID number links to a patient's name and vital health details on MedicAlert's server. "It's commendable what Microsoft is doing," he says. "They are confirming there is a need for patients to be empowered with access to their own information."
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With HealthVault, says Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of theSmart Card Alliance data security will need to be a top priority. "Microsoft will need to provide a sound method for the medical establishment to log in a secure way," he says. "Accessing HealthVault means, I would hope, strong security technology like smart cards." Microsoft has supported the use of smart-card technology in the past, he adds, as a method for securing data.
To retrieve medical records stored in HealthVault, Vanderhoof predicts, a medical professional would likely use an ID card containing a microchip encoded with a unique ID number to access data on the Web browser. That chip could use RFID technology to transmit its data, Vanderhoof speculates, but would not require it. "Those [RFID] applications are primarily used with high volumes of people where speed is a concern," he says.
One health-care data-tracking systems provider currently using RFID is MedicAlert, which has been testing an RFID bracelet used to access important health-care information about the bracelet's wearer (see MedicAlert Aims to RFID-Enable Medical Records) and VeriChip. VeriChip's VeriMed system utilizes RFID chip implants to identify patients and operates a password-protected online database for storing those patients' medical information. (VeriChip has not responded to calls from RFID Journal regarding HealthVault.)
Ramesh Srinivasan, MedicAlert's VP of business development, says he has been following the HealthVault release and views Microsoft as a potential partnership. MedicAlert bracelets include an RFID chip on which a user's unique ID number links to a patient's name and vital health details on MedicAlert's server. "It's commendable what Microsoft is doing," he says. "They are confirming there is a need for patients to be empowered with access to their own information."
