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The use of digital ID and biometrics to access healthcare services is growing in countries including Ghana, India and Japan. In Ghana, a digital app for access to health insurance services, ‘MyNHIS’ app, was deployed at the close of last year based on the ‘Shelter’ solution from the Austrian State Printing House (OSD), which says it plans to upgrade the app by adding new features and functionalities. In Japan, there are plans to add features of the health insurance card to the My Number card, meaning holders of the latter can have access to health services covered by their insurance plan. Meanwhile, in India, the novelty is the requirement of biometric face authentication for anyone who intends to create an ID on the ABHA digital health services app, and veterans in the U.S. are adopting multi-factor authentication without biometrics for access to health and other services.
Plans to upgrade Ghana digital health app
According to
OSD, the MyNHIS app, based on the national ID card (
Ghana Card), and an initiative of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), was designed to facilitate access to health insurance services by Ghanaians as part of efforts by the government to improve health coverage across the nation of more than 30 million people.
Once registered on the MyNHIS app, the user can access an overview of their membership status, prescriptions, monthly payments, and nearby NHIS-certified medical centers, and can manage their membership from anywhere without visiting any physical location, OSD says in an announcement.
User biometrics are enrolled both for NHIS membership and registration for the Ghana Card, but the NHIS also operates a non-biometric authentication service.
Claudia Schwendimann, CEO of OSD International, says the planned addition of new features and functionalities to the app is a move that “will further improve the usability and efficiency for the government as well as all citizens."
The app has been hailed both by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and the CEO of the Ghana NHIS Bernard Okoe-Boye.
Registration with the app requires an active internet connection and the high number of phone users in Ghana is considered a plus for the initiative.
The ABHA is part of a robust healthcare plan in India, with around
one billion ABHA IDs expected to be created by June ending.
Japan wants to add my health card features to My number Card
The health insurance card in Japan might disappear from next year as the government plans to integrate its features with the My Number Card – an ID document used (optionally) as a national ID.
As
reported by Japan Times, this will make it possible for people to access health insurance services only with the My Number Card, which is said to be owned at the moment by 76 percent of Japanese.
The outlet indicates however that My Number Cards with health insurance functions could be accepted for insurance services from this month.
Concerns have been raised about the move as critics argue that the about 24 percent of Japanese who do not have the My Number Card could be excluded from health services covered by the health insurance scheme. There have also been complaints about the safety of keeping the My Number Cards of people in care homes.
An integrated My Number Card can be used by scanning it using a card reader with face biometrics to verify the photo on the card with the face of the visitor, officials say. A pass code will be used for authentication when a facial authentication error occurs.
India introduces novelty to digital health app
It will soon be possible for people to use face authentication for the creation of an ID on the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) app, a digital health ecosystem platform which allows people to share and access health records digitally.
The National Health Service (NHS) which is overseeing the initiative says the new authentication method, which is currently being tested, will be linked to the Aadhaar number and will avoid the inconveniences of using OTPs,
reports ClearTax.
The proposal has raised data privacy worries already, but officials have given assurances.
The publication mentions that so far, 378 million ABHA IDs exist and 261.7 million health records are linked to the Aadhaar.
SMS-based MFA to access Veteran services urged
In the United States, the country’s Department of Veteran Affairs has underlined the importance of a multi-factor authentication (MFA) system utilizing one-time passwords sent by text, which was recently introduced for accessing veteran services digitally.
According to an announcement form the Department, MFA comes with an additional layer of security when veterans have to access and manage their benefits.
Authorities are happy that the novelty has been warmly welcomed.
“It’s great to see our Veteran user community embrace this option,” says Charles Worthington, chief technology officer at VA’s Office of Information and Technology (OIT). “Multi-factor authentication is currently optional, but obviously it’s a popular choice.”
The announcement also explains how it works, and urges the vets not to skip the MFA option when logging into their accounts.
The use of digital ID and biometrics to access healthcare services is growing in countries including Ghana, India and Japan. In Ghana, a digital app for access to health insurance services, ‘MyNHIS’ app, was deployed at the close of last year based on the ‘Shelter’ solution from the Austrian State Printing House (OSD), which says it plans to upgrade the app by adding new features and functionalities. In Japan, there are plans to add features of the health insurance card to the My Number card, meaning holders of the latter can have access to health services covered by their insurance plan. Meanwhile, in India, the novelty is the requirement of biometric face authentication for anyone who intends to create an ID on the ABHA digital health services app, and veterans in the U.S. are adopting multi-factor authentication without biometrics for access to health and other services.