Biometric ID from Fulcrum Biometrics and Lumidigm Helps New Guinea Medical Clinic Manage Records and Services


Fulcrum Biometrics created a customized patient identification solution for the New Tribes Mission Medical Clinic in Papua New Guinea using the Fulcrum Biometric Framework (FbF®) Demographica application and the Lumidigm M-Series multispectral fingerprint reader to capture and identify fingerprints.



San Antonio, Texas – Fulcrum Biometrics, a leading international provider, distributor and integrator of biometric systems and devices, has developed and deployed a customized patient identification solution for the New Tribes Mission Medical Clinic in Papua New Guinea. The system, which is based on Fulcrum's FbF® Demographica biometric identification application and customized with the FbF® modular development framework, uses an M-Series multispectral fingerprint reader from Lumidigm. The unique imaging capabilities of Lumidigm's biometric sensors allow the clinic to accurately identify people who come into the clinic for healthcare services even if their fingerprints are worn or damaged — a common characteristic of the demographic.



The New Tribes Mission (NTM) Medical Clinic serves a vital role in providing medical care and pharmacy services for several thousand local citizens as well as roughly a thousand missionaries and other expatriates living in Papua New Guinea. Since its inception, the clinic had been struggling to keep accurate medical records due to difficulty in accurately identifying their repeat patients. In a culture with hundreds of different indigenous languages and where people often have no form of ID and many are not able to read, write or sign their names, biometrics provides a fast and reliable form of identification.



Using the modular Fulcrum Biometric Framework (FbF®), Fulcrum was able to quickly customize the FbF Demographica biometric identification system to provide NTM with a fast, accurate and easy way to register patients in the clinic and ensure that each individual's medical records are always associated with his or her proper identity. The application is browser-based and operates on a standard desktop PC running a Windows OS. The Lumidigm M-Series multispectral fingerprint reader is used for capturing and identifying fingerprints. Once a patient is enrolled in the system, on each subsequent visit to the clinic he or she can sign in by presenting four fingerprints to the scanner. The system immediately pulls up the patient's identification record along with the patient's photograph and the receptionist verifies that the record matches the patient.



Advantages of the Lumidigm M-Series Fingerprint Sensors:

Because so many residents live and work in challenging physical conditions, their fingerprints can become damaged or worn over time. The Lumidigm device is particularly useful in scanning difficult-to-read fingerprints because it reads not only the surface print but also the subsurface print. The environment can also play a role in hampering the capture of a good fingerprint image on conventional sensors. However, very dry or wet conditions do not affect the ability of the Lumidigm M-Series to read fingerprints.



The patented multispectral approach available only in Lumidigm's sensors returns a great image every time. This biometric performance allows NTM to efficiently manage patients' records, reduce costs associated with duplicate records and service, and ensure continuity of service.



"The fingerprint scanner has been a tremendous help in identifying patients," said Dr. Kevin Ludwig, Chief Medical Officer for the New Tribes Mission Medical Clinic. "Biometrics provides the best means of certain identification."



The new system has dramatically reduced the time required to ensure accurate identification of patients. It is much easier and less stressful for the patients to use and it has been well-received by both the NTM clinic staff and the local population.



Advantages of using the FbF framework:

The Fulcrum Biometrics FbF framework is a rapid biometric application deployment system comprised of several reusable components that developers can quickly deploy in their environment. The FbF components are specially designed to remove all the complexity for developers who need to use high quality biometric identification and authentication but who do not have the experience or the time required to learn the intricacies of developing biometric solutions. Supporting biometric hardware devices, creating reusable controls and implementing fast and accurate biometric server side systems can be a challenge for even experienced developers. The FbF framework allows developers to focus on their application logic and end-user requirements by providing biometric capture, biometric enrollment and biometric matching functions with support for many popular sensors and multiple biometric modalities (fingerprint, iris, face, palm vein and palm print).



Further details about the New Tribes Mission Medical Clinic patient identification solution are available in a Fulcrum Biometrics case study. For more information about the FbF line of development products and a wide range of other iris, fingerprint, palm print, face and voice biometric technologies, contact Fulcrum Biometrics at +1-800-430-4601 (International +1-210-257-5615) or email info@fulcrumbiometrics.com.



For more information about Lumidigm solutions, visit www.lumidigm.com.



About Lumidigm:

Lumidigm Inc., a global leader in authentication solutions is dedicated to enabling convenient, secure, and reliable identification of people, products and credentials. Developed with “real world” performance as a priority, Lumidigm's multispectral imaging technology, innovative software and biometric fingerprint sensors allow customers to know “who” or “what” to a high degree of certainty. Lumidigm and its strategic partners have met challenging authentication requirements in markets such as banking, healthcare, entertainment, and government services. The Lumidigm Advantage is also suitable for industrial, commercial, and transportation applications. Lumidigm is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico.



About Fulcrum Biometrics:

Founded in 2002, Fulcrum Biometrics is a leading provider, distributor and integrator of biometric identification technologies and devices for commercial, civil and military customers in 88 countries worldwide. Fulcrum's offerings include industry-leading biometric software development tools, fingerprint scanners and other biometric sensors as well as custom software development for multiple platforms, custom integration and implementation of identity management applications and access control systems. Fulcrum is the developer of the Fulcrum Biometric Framework (FbF®), a rapid biometric application deployment suite which includes the FbF bioServer, FbF LiveScan, FbF PalmVein, FbF mobileOne, FbF Listener, FbF Silverlight Client Library and FbF iOS Library.



Contact:

Kathleen Erickson, Fulcrum Biometrics

+1 (210) 257-5615

kathleen@fulcrumbiometrics.com



Jennifer Allen Newton

Bluehouse Consulting Group, Inc.

+1 (503) 805-7540

Jennifer@bluehousecg.com



Bill Spence, Lumidigm

+1 (408) 891-4091

bspence@lumidigm.com



Tom Brigham

Brigham Scully

+1 (207) 941-1100

tbrigham@brighamscully.com




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