One of the worst things about going to the hospital, aside from whatever medical condition you’re suffering from, is the endless paperwork you have to fill out once you get there. A number of hospitals, including New York’s Mount Sai Medical Center are now turning to smart cards as a way to cut down on the paperwork, speed up registration times, maintain more accurate records, and most importantly, quickly identify patients.

The new patient ID program at Mount Sai places each patient’s medical history in a smart chip which is stored on an identification card. The smart card is the same size as your typical credit card. It features a digital photo of the patient and, thanks to the embedded computer chip, is capable of securely storing up to 33 pages of data. The cards not help the hospital correctly identify patients, but also make each patient’s medical history easily accessible from anywhere in the facility.
The patient smart cards offer a number of other benefits as well. They help to cut down on clerical errors, speed up the patient check-in process, and help to ensure patient safety. Along with a 64k smart chip, each card also includes a bar code and magnetic stripe which might be integrated into a cashless payment program down the road.