Maine Medical Center Puts Biometrics at Physicians' Fingertips

LEXINGTON, MA—May 29, 2007—Imprivata, Inc., the enterprise authentication and access management appliance company, today announced that Parkview Adventist Medical Center in Brunswick, Maine, has deployed Imprivata OneSign Single Sign-On (SSO) to ease frustration resulting from the need to constantly sign in and out of several critical applications. Working closely with Parkview Adventist Medical Center, Imprivata was able to get OneSign SSO up and running in just two days.

For years, Parkview Adventist Medical Center had deployed a growing variety of technology solutions—both making IT management increasingly complex and leading to discontent among the organization’s clinicians and physicians, which were tired of signing in and out of various applications. After evaluating a number of options, Parkview Adventist decided to combine all of the hospital’s data into one Health Care Information System (HCIS).

At the same time, the organization saw an opportunity to strengthen overall security and relieve log in/log out frustrations by combining a single sign-on solution from Imprivata with finger biometrics, enabling staff to log on to any PC or computer on wheels (COWs) with a single fingertip swipe. Because finger biometrics are a form of strong authentication, this also increased Parkview Adventist’s IT security and helped the organization meet compliance regulations.

“Parkview Adventist’s physicians and clinicians are delighted with the way they can access critical patient data with just the swipe of their finger—and with the way that the screen is ‘wiped clean’ when they step away, making logging out just as easy,” said Bill McQuaid, CIO, Parkview Adventist Medical Center. “My staff and I support this hospital 24x7—we are the ones taking the calls and fixing the problems. If Imprivata’s OneSign solution did not work perfectly, it would not still be here today.”

Imprivata OneSign SSO is designed to quickly and effectively solve password management, security and user access issues and can work with any application—legacy, client/server or web-based. It has been proven to increase user productivity and satisfaction, dramatically lower help desk costs resulting from forgotten passwords and assist with regulatory compliance.

Parkview Adventist quickly settled on OneSign SSO because it was appliance-based, meaning the whole solution was included in one easy-to-install package—and because of the ease with which OneSign SSO could be integrated with both applications and strong authentication methods such as finger biometric devices and solutions. The system was set up so that users enroll one or more fingerprints via a scanner, which then records the prints in a file associated with each user’s identification information. From that point, when logging in, the user again scans the fingerprint, which is compared to the print on file to complete the authentication process.

“We designed this product to make it easy and affordable for customers to single sign-on-enable any and all applications without requiring any custom scripting, changes to existing directories, or inconvenient end-user workflow changes,” added Omar Hussain, president and CEO of Imprivata. “Parkview Adventist is an example of how OneSign SSO can deliver on this promise—and help a healthcare organization revolutionize the way it runs on a daily basis—from easing data access to assisting with its most critical function, providing care to patients.”

It took Parkview Adventist’s IT team only two days to roll out full single sign-on access to all the new applications. The Medical Center now has more than 100 finger biometrics devices installed throughout its facilities on stationary computers, as well as on computers on wheels (COWs) that can travel throughout the Center as needed.

Through its implementation of single sign-on and finger biometrics, Parkview Adventist has also realized benefits above and beyond easing user frustrations and increasing security throughout the organization. The organization now barcodes and scans every medication that enters the hospital and each patient wristband now also has a barcode on it—which tells a nurse if the medication being administered was ordered for that patient and is being given at the right time. The medications also are now only accessible for dispensing after a nurse has authenticated using finger biometrics. This process, called “bedside medication verification,” greatly reduces medication errors and helps to ensure patient safety.

Parkview Adventist Medical Center is a 55-bed acute care hospital in Brunswick, Maine that has been serving the healthcare needs of the residents of midcoast Maine since 1959. Affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Parkview was founded by three Adventist doctors and is one of about 70 acute care Adventist hospitals in the United States and about 200 worldwide. Currently, one-third of Parkview’s medical staff attended the world-renowned Loma Linda University School of Medicine, itself a part of the Adventist health system. In 2006, Parkview was recognized as a national award winner in healthcare service quality by Avatar International Inc. Parkview’s overall customer satisfaction score exceeded customer expectations in a survey of all emergency room patients, as well as inpatients on the medical surgical, intensive care, maternity, day surgery and special procedures units. For more information, please visit www.parkviewamc.org/index.php.

Imprivata is the enterprise authentication and access management appliance company delivering OneSign—an easy, smart and affordable appliance for securing networks, applications and building/IT access. The OneSign appliance includes OneSign Authentication Management, which increases network security by replacing Windows passwords with strong authentication options; OneSign Single Sign-On, which quickly and effectively solves password management, security and user access issues; and OneSign Physical/Logical, which integrates building and network access systems to enable location-based authentication. Based in Lexington, Mass., the company is privately-held with venture funding from Polaris Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners and General Catalyst Partners and its solution is distributed through an established worldwide network of channel, ISV and technology partners. For more information, please visit www.imprivata.com.