Medicare Beneficiaries, Providers Could Benefit From Use of Electronically Readable Cards

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that CMS could use electronically readable cards in Medicare for a number of different purposes.

Three key uses include authenticating beneficiary and provider presence at the point of care, electronically exchanging beneficiary medical information, and electronically conveying beneficiary identity and insurance information to providers. The type of electronically readable card that would be most appropriate depends on how the cards would be used.

Smart cards could provide substantially more rigorous authentication than cards with magnetic stripes or bar codes, and provide greater security and storage capacity for exchanging medical information. All electronically readable cards could be used to convey beneficiary identity and insurance information since they all have adequate storage capacity to contain such information.

Read the GAO report: http://1.usa.gov/1JEGLRo