In the U.S., there are a few mobile phones with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, a service that facilitates secure exchange of information by simply putting a mobile device near a scanner.
This near contact allows people, for example, to use their smartphones as digital credit card, tickets, library cards and many other usages. But while many discuss the potential of NFC technology in healthcare, the ultimate challenge is the low number of devices in the market with capability to support the tech..
NFC has the ability to allow for the following uses within healthcare:
- Patient check-in during their visit to a provider or a healthcare facility
- The ability to securely transmit and exchange of health information
- The quick and easy collection of patient payment
- Medication management and tracking for patients
- Securely signing into computer systems to access health information
- Fitness tracking capabilities to help patients with wellness and fitness programs
The SD Association has released an SD card that can now be loaded into a smartphones to act as an NFC transceiver. This will open up the door to a wider number of consumers to use devices enabled for NFC. These devices have seen an incredible adoption rate, and for consumers and patients functionality available through contact-less services enable us to interface and interact with systems in a much more efficient way.