Checking in at the doctor’s office is about to become simpler for patients in one of New York’s largest health networks.
Starting next week, patients at NYU Langone Health facilities will have the option to confirm their identity at check-in using Amazon One, a contactless service that uses a simple palm scan to securely and quickly authenticate identity.
NYU Langone is rolling out Amazon One in a move to optimize patients’ experiences while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security. This marks the largest Amazon One third-party deployment to date and the first Amazon One deployment in a health care setting, adding to other successful deployments in stadiums, airports, fitness centers, convenience stores, and more.
The rollout is expected to be completed across all locations by the end of the year.
"One of NYU Langone’s goals is to leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance the patient experience,” says Nader Mherabi, executive vice president and vice dean, chief digital and information officer at NYU Langone. “We make all decisions with our patients in mind first and foremost, and we’re always looking for ways to improve their experience through technology. As with all new initiatives and technology of this scale, we will optimize over time and meet the needs of our patients.”
Amazon One in action: How it works
Amazon One's palm scanning technology has a 99.9999% accuracy rate and recognition time of less than one second. Amazon One combines palm and vein imagery for biometric matching that resulted in a system that is 100 times more accurate than two irises. This level of precision improves the patient experience by making identity checks faster, easier, and less prone to human error.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) worked with Epic, NYU Langone’s electronic health record system, to integrate Amazon One for identity authentication in NYU Langone’s patient check-in experience. Using Amazon One is simple, secure, and free for patients to use. Amazon One is used solely for identity authentication and does not store or access any health information. NYU Langone patients can enroll in Amazon One online from home (or using Amazon One enabled devices at NYU Langone locations before their appointment), and link their Amazon One Profile to NYU Langone in just a few minutes.
No two palms are alike, so Amazon One analyzes multiple attributes and selects the most distinct identifiers to create each person’s unique palm signature. Then, during identity verification at check-in, patients simply hover their palm over the Amazon One device, which quickly scans their palm and confirms their identity. This eliminates the need for traditional identity checking methods such as presenting physical identity documents, offering a fast and secure way to reduce wait times and human error risk.
Amazon One is built on AWS—the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS is the trusted technology and innovation partner to thousands of health care and life sciences organizations globally, providing unmatched reliability, security, and data privacy.
"Health care is deeply personal and often stressful. With Amazon One, we've created a palm recognition system that respects privacy while making check-ins simpler when patients have more important things on their minds," said Colleen Aubrey, SVP of AWS Solutions. "It's meaningful to see our technology make a real difference in people's daily lives and provide a more frictionless health care journey without ever compromising on security or patient trust."
Prioritizing trust
With privacy and data security as top priorities, Amazon One offers benefits as a solution for identity authentication during appointment check-in. First, palm recognition is considered more private than some alternatives because you can’t determine a person’s identity by looking at an image of their palm. It also requires an intentional gesture—hovering a palm over a device—to use. This puts users in control of when and where they use the service to identify themselves.
Additionally, data is protected in accordance with AWS's high security standards, leveraging the AWS Cloud, along with multilayered security controls built into the Amazon One hardware, software and cloud infrastructure to ensure customer data stays encrypted and secure. Palm data is not stored on a mobile device during sign up, nor on the Amazon One device. When a user scans their palm, images are immediately encrypted and sent to a highly secure environment in the AWS Cloud, custom built for Amazon One, where their unique palm signature is created. Multiple security controls protect data at all times, including, but not limited to, encryption, data isolation, and dedicated secure zones with restricted access controls.
It’s important to note that Amazon One does not collect or receive health care records from providers, and Amazon One palm data is not used for marketing purposes. If patients prefer not to use Amazon One, they are still able to access health care services and verify their identities in different ways at their doctors’ offices. Amazon One users can unenroll and request deletion of their palm data at any time.
Paving the way for smarter, safer health care
The benefits of this technology extend beyond patient convenience. By streamlining their check-in process, health care offices can serve more patients more efficiently, reduce administrative burdens, and focus on delivering high-quality care.
Looking ahead, AWS plans to work with hospitals and health systems for additional applications of Amazon One, like credentialing for access to shared computer systems and high-security areas in order to further enhance operational efficiency and security.
As health care continues to evolve, innovations like Amazon One demonstrate how technology can be integrated to improve the patient experience while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security.
