After an extensive pilot program, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is moving forward with plans to take its Medicaid smart card system statewide. The system provides cardholders with a convenient and secure method for verifying their Medicaid coverage.

One of the biggest advantages of the medical smart card system is that it automates the patient check-in process. Currently, staff members manually copy patient information from paper forms. This information can easily be lost or entered improperly, plus it’s a time consuming process. The smart card will speed up the check-in process significantly, and will effectively eliminate human error from the data entry process.
Another advantage of the system is its potential to cut the overall costs of the Medicaid program. As it stands, 2 million Texans are mailed paper Medicaid cards each month, resulting in an estimated $750,000 in monthly postage. With the new system, each qualified individual will carry a single smart card that can simply be updated with new information as needed. It’s a simpler, more secure, and in the long run, more cost-effective method for handling Medicaid verification.
The card itself is the size of a credit card. Each card is encoded with identity information required by health-care providers and doctors. When the cardholder arrives at the hospital or healthcare facility, he or she inserts the card into a reader, while also placing a finger in a biometric fingertip reader. The system then verifies the identity and the Medicaid coverage of the individual.