KYP: Why Knowing Your Patient in 2020 is More Crucial Than Ever

The year 2020 is likely to go down in history as the year of COVID-19, multiple crises and the memes that go with them. Jokes apart, 2020 has amplified and brought to the surface issues such as identity fraud and the limitations of the healthcare system. 

Recent data breaches, combined with the growth of the dark web and identity theft, have empowered cybercriminals to more easily impersonate legitimate patients. The concept of KYP (Know Your Patient) is not new, however, the developments of 2020 make it more vital than ever. After all, seeking remote medical assistance, or filling a prescription online is becoming a regular activity for millions of patients all over the world.

Online identity verification is used in a number of industries. When it comes to healthcare, here’s how AI-powered KYC/KYP solutions improve the quality and efficiency of the patient service: 

• Protect sensitive medical information, test results and prescriptions by only allowing access to the actual patient.

Identity Verification Benefits For The Healthcare Industry

The areas where online identity verification and KYP are essential for the medical industry are:

• Online Prescriptions - US government regulations require online pharmacies to verify the identities and ages of patients requesting their prescriptions to be filled.
• Insurance Fraud - insurance companies rely on digital identity verification to avoid fraudulent claims and subsequent legal fees, while also protecting patient identity and privacy. This approach is actively spreading around the world. For example, Georgia’s leading insurance company, Aldagi, has fully adopted online onboarding and KYC via Identomat’s AI platform. Now Aldagi is able to verify customers’ identity, accurately extract data from submitted documents, and process it according to all legal requirements and standards of Georgia in online security and data protection.
• Patient Intake - even for in-person hospital treatment, digital identity verification is key to reducing the potential for human error while verifying new patients, especially in stressful or emergency situations where every second counts. 
• Reputation Management - healthcare is a very sensitive industry, trustworthiness and reliability projected by service providers make a major difference in the patients’ comfort, peace of mind, and, ultimately, recovery. Showing patients that the protection of their personal data is taken just as seriously as their health can go a long way in building lasting relationships between patients and healthcare providers. 

The huge leap that AI has taken in the last years has greatly influenced fraud prevention tools, helping various industries, including healthcare, avoid fraud, protect sensitive data, and provide their clients with more efficient and reliable services. 

After all, dealing with medical issues is stressful enough, and Artificial Intelligence can take the stress out of data protection and patient verification for hospitals, insurance companies, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers. Reach out to see how Identomat can fit into your patient onboarding and identity verification process.