Mend on the Benefits of Robust Remote Digital Identity Verification for Healthcare Organizations

Many organizations were caught off guard at the beginning of 2020, when healthcare services suddenly shifted from predominantly in-person models and moved many aspects of routine care online. Virtual care and telehealth quickly became go-to medical options for many patients, making it less rare for them to interact with physicians without ever meeting them in person.

These wholly remote healthcare relationships present their own hurdles, as healthcare practices and organizations must ensure that the patients they are treating are the same ones receiving medical updates and bills. With healthcare data breaches affecting more than 40 million people in the United States in 2021, having robust identity verification measures in place is wise.

Some virtual healthcare services providers have been established for several years and have thus been verifying and authenticating patients remotely long before the pandemic began. One such provider is Mend, a patient engagement and telehealth platform that was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Most of the visits the organization facilitates are conducted virtually, and this has been the case since its founding.

The End of Pushing Paper

While many healthcare providers hustled to figure out how to offer patient care and identity verification remotely during the pandemic’s onset, Mend and its customers simply continued operating as usual. Part of Mend’s verification process involves proactively allowing patients to provide their medical and personal information via its digital platform. Mend offers a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant telehealth platform, digital patient intake, automated patient engagement and artificial intelligence (AI) that predicts no-shows.

“We collect [patient] information generally using digital forms,” Matt McBride, Mend’s founder and CEO, said, adding that these forms can replace the paperwork that patients used to fill out when visiting a healthcare practitioner in person. “We digitize all of that, and we give it to folks to do before they arrive.”

For providers that use Mend to enable telehealth visits, the process starts with patients receiving a text message containing a link that prompts them to provide personal and medical information. Clicking the link sends them to a form that allows them to enter their birthdate and fill in required fields with their information.

McBride said that Mend works with several major electronic health records platforms to streamline the information-gathering process, and it also provides online tech support to patients. The company aims to answer patients’ questions within 20 seconds if they are having trouble navigating the technology.

He explained that the initial link-based signup can also patients’ time, as they no longer have to show up to appointments early to fill out forms or hand over identification. Some practices also use this step to enable appointment confirmation because patients who take the time to fill out the forms are unlikely to be no-shows.

For verification, patients must upload photos of their state-issued IDs and both sides of their insurance cards using mobile phones or home computers. McBride said there are also cases in which the company might collect income-related information, such as when a federally qualified healthcare center needs to verify patients’ incomes due to sliding fee scales. Mend’s platform is also equipped to collect and store images of pay stubs and other documents with financial details.

Trust, but Verify

Most healthcare organizations consider driver’s licenses and insurance cards suitable for verifying patients’ identities, but McBride said verification can go a bit farther when medical professionals prescribe controlled substances.

Patients using Mend’s platform who are receiving controlled substances must fill out additional forms that grant the prescribing doctor the authority to check state databases to verify that they do not have histories of abusing prescription medication. Most U.S. states also require patients who are prescribed certain medications to visit a physician in person at least once a year.

McBride says he has not seen much of an increase in fraud since March 2020, “but our providers are aware of the concern.” Many report that fraud via video consultations or telehealth interactions is not a big worry, but they have said that fraud could be a bigger issue for phone-based interactions.

Many also have concerns regarding location, as a provider licensed in Florida is typically only allowed to prescribe medication to patients who reside there, for example. In these cases, state ID-based verification can usually resolve any issues.

“Whether it’s virtual or in person, we can collect all of the information we need to verify their identity, all of the medical history, any [consent forms] and even payments,” McBride said. “If you think about the whole process you go through as a patient before you see the provider, all of that is going to move online.”

The Next Step in Verification for Virtual Healthcare

McBride said that Mend is also planning to adopt new technologies, allowing the company to provide even more services remotely, and one if its next goals is to collect patients’ vitals via webcam. He said that younger consumers are usually comfortable receiving care remotely and are generally eager to move toward the ease of online transactions and healthcare solutions.

He also mentioned that the technologies and steps involved in patient verification will change in the future, though he is concerned that adding too many steps could hinder access to care or discourage participation. He believes the solution is to make the steps automated, simple and secure.

“Patients seem to like it,” McBride said. “The process with clipboards and paper … it’ll all be electronic now. It’ll go right into the practice automatically, and all that documentation will be automatic. Medical professionals can spend more time doing what they do best: providing care to the patients.”

Moving healthcare services and the documentation that accompanies them online can simplify and accelerate the experience for patients and providers alike, all while eliminating inefficiency and reducing fraud. Pairing these virtual healthcare services with digital verification measures will go a long way toward keeping these experiences smooth and secure in the years ahead.