Will visiting a doctor require your palm to be digitally stored and read?

NEW YORK - Palms have taken on a new meaning at some doctors' offices and hospitals. More unique than fingerprints, palm readings are helping keep patients straight and safe.

It's palm reading, indeed, but not the fortune teller kind. More than 8,000 patients at the NYU Langone Medical Center have already had their palms read as part of their medical visits. The goal is to have every single patient at the hospital and in their doctor's waiting room be "palmed." It's one of the way technology is coming into the medical environment.

When patient Michael Baldwin visits his doctor at the medical center, check in is a breeze. All he needs is his palm, as he's one of the first patients to take part in the new program. It is called Patient Secure, and it uses palms to identify patients and their records.

Palm prints, it turns out, are more than 100 times more unique than fingerprints, so that is the basis of the new security system.


Link:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/health&id=8194633