Indiana company provides health and identity cards for 3 U.S. Olympic teams
July 23, 2012
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – Three U.S. Olympic teams at the 2012 Olympics in London will use a technology of a Purdue Research Park-based company in Northwest Indiana that produces an identity card to link to an individual's medical history.
I-DENTI-FIED Inc.'s patent-pending health-care identifier system is being used by the U.S. athletes with the national diving team, synchronized swimming and tumbling gymnastics. The technology is a personal health record of the individual that can be accessed using a secure ID through a secure online network in the event of injury or illness.
The identifier, which unlocks the health history of an individual, is provided on a driver's license-type card, bracelet, keychain or any item that can support a bar code, QR code or RFID transponder. Information accessed using the cards or other personal items with an individualized bar code can only be opened by using proprietary software through a secure network.
"The availability of such information not only ensures positive identification, but is vital in emergencies where immediate physical intervention is needed by first-responders or health-care professionals and where knowledge of a person's health history such as clinical conditions, allergies or current medications can expedite emergency care," said Steve Wise, president and CEO of I-DENTI-FIED. "It is not uncommon for people to see multiple physicians, specialists and other health-care professionals, and even with the best intentions medical practitioners may act with little or no knowledge of the clinical history, medications, recent test findings or the personal preferences of the patients they treat. The system provides a longitudinal health profile of individuals."
In addition, the medical information found through the identifier system contains medical procedures, emergency contacts, insurance coverage and other useful information. Wise said another advantage to the identifier system is that it may reduce medical errors, waste and readmissions.
Wise and Kevin Brunski, I-DENTI-FIED founder and chief medical officer, worked with Ralph Reiff, executive director of St. Vincent Sports Performance, and Terry Robinson, PT, ATC, head athletic trainer of U.S. Diving, to integrate a flexible health and information management system with global portal access.
"It is a challenge to collect and maintain the health records of the athletes, and information is typically hand-written and can contain outdated data," Robinson said. "We wanted a way to streamline our travel preparations and simultaneously provide current identity and health records to event personnel when we are traveling and competing around the globe.
"With our old method of documenting medical records, we spent many hours verifying and updating about 20 athletes. This system has saved us much time, resources and provides the most up-to-date information."
The I-DENTI-FIED technology was previously used by the U.S. Diving Team in a multi-national event in China in 2011. The identifier system also has been adopted by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and is being introduced as a critical component to Accountable Care Organizations in Indianapolis and Nashville Tenn.
About I-DENTI-FIED Inc.
I-DENTI-FIED Inc. develops, produces, and markets affordable patient identification products and related programs that connect patients to their own personal health records (PHRs), by providing access to these records by emergency and non-emergency caregivers and service providers during a patient encounter.
About Purdue Research Park
The Purdue Research Park, with four locations across Indiana, has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The parks are home to about 200 companies that employ 4,000 people and are located in West Lafayette, Merrillville, Indianapolis and New Albany.
Contact: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 588-3340, casequin@prf.org
Source: Steve Wise, (615) 778-4619, steve.wise@i-dent-fied.com
