Our friends and partners at Imprivata recently completed a survey of healthcare executives, association members and CIOs to better understand how COVID-19 has directly affected their individual organizations’ Identity Management solutions. After reading through the results and analysis from the Imprivata team (related article found here), I would like to share what we at rf IDEAS have been doing to support Imprivata’s new efforts. After all, it is one thing to know information, but it is another to make good—and do good—with that information. I pride myself on taking action, as does the entire rf IDEAS team. This is why I am sharing these thoughts today.

Imprivata’s research showed that Identity Management is a largely manual process within most healthcare organizations, and that this pandemic has lengthened this process for a number of possible reasons, including having less FTE’s to complete the manual tasks associated with on-boarding. The family of Imprivata readers provided by rf IDEAS already has a long-standing track record of providing tangible time savings for clinicians across all disciplines by removing their need for a name and password and replacing these credentials with a simple and secure tap-and-go solution.

This same approach can also be used in your organization’s back-end department to enroll and onboard new constituents as well as add new devices to your system and network. Each device in the Imprivata portfolio, whether a desktop or an embedded reader, can interact with proximity, contactless or mobile credentials to help eliminate a large number of mundane tasks. For example, instead of typing repetitive user information, you can tap in that same information, turning minutes into seconds. Eliminating the time required to complete these tasks will free up your organization’s FTEs to focus on the most important steps of the onboarding process and gain back lost time.

Once onboarded, managing your organization’s Digital Identity and Access Management is the next area that COVID-19 has negatively affected. Imprivata identified three major challenges that have increased the difficulty level for these organizations. The challenges include:

• Increased number of remote workers (90%)

• Increased number of new devices (63%)

• New physical locations (45%)
 

The silver lining, from my chair, is that the most recent reader product releases and updates over the previous 18 months speak directly to these challenges. In fact, in the next part of the survey, respondents identified three “tools” as essential in fighting these new challenges. Those “tools” include:

• Multi-factor authentication solutions

• Mobile device management solutions

• Single Sign-On — or SSO — service

Multi-factor authentication solutions have become a staple of the rf IDEAS portfolio beginning with the WAVE ID® Plus models (formerly pcProx Plus), followed by the integration of Bluetooth Low Energy technology into those same devices as the next generation of WAVE ID® Mobile readers, and leading up to our most recent reader release, the WAVE ID® Bio that will now incorporate a fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. 

This means that with one reader/device, you can accommodate three different and unique factors of authentication using things your clinicians would have with them every day: RFID Credential for door access, Bluetooth Low Energy enabled mobile device and biometric fingerprint.

Following the integration of Bluetooth Low Energy technology into our devices, we knew our mobile device management solutions would be foundational to what makes our mobile-enabled devices successful.

In addition, because rf IDEAS works with existing credentials, it is both streamlined and cost-effective to take advantage of these technologies.

The conclusion of Imprivata’s survey highlighted that there was almost a 10% increase in the number of respondents who planned to purchase commercial-grade Identity Management solutions for their healthcare organization (aka Imprivata, because why would you go anywhere else?) in the next three years. Sixty-seven to 75% of people in charge plan to spend money on their Digital Identity management system by the end of 2022.  So it’s easy to see that IMS is more vital than ever.

The Imprivata portfolio of products, both those seen sitting neatly next to a workstation or connected directly to a laptop/tablet, as well as those that are embedded in medical devices and medical machinery around the building, are essential building blocks to your organization’s overall Digital Identity Management system. The rf IDEAS team has maintained a long-standing partnership with the Imprivata team for over two decades and our knowledge of the industry and marketplace is second to none. We are proud to be an integral part of the Imprivata OneSign solution and look forward to continuing to support their customers like they are our own and help each organization bounce back stronger from this COVID-19 crisis.

To learn more about how rf IDEAS and Imprivata’s integrated solutions can improve access and workflow for your organization, send an email to sales@rfIDEAS.com and mention this post to get in touch with an rf IDEAS healthcare expert.