LINCOLNSHIRE, ILL., Oct. 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zebra Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq:ZBRA), a recognized global leader in providing products and solutions that extend real-time visibility to improve patient safety and workflow processes, today announced a strategic alliance with LifeMed ID Inc., a premier patient identity solutions company in healthcare. Through this alliance, Zebra card printers are now the exclusive printer component for use with the LifeMed ID healthcare patient identification solution.
"The continuing need to quickly and accurately identify and admit patients as part of a smooth healthcare workflow is extremely crucial," said Ram Ramaprasad, director of card solutions, Zebra Technologies. "The LifeMed ID solution combined with Zebra's secure card printing capabilities represents an exciting opportunity for healthcare providers to improve patient safety and operations. Zebra and LifeMed ID are exploring other ways to bring comprehensive patient ID solutions to our customers in healthcare."
This new relationship combines LifeMed ID's integrated patient authentication solution and Zebra's secure card printers to address the issue of misidentification during each point of registration for both outpatient visits and inpatient care. This one-of-a-kind solution substantially reduces problems of misidentification and duplicate records, and further increases patient safety and improves efficiencies across the healthcare system.
"The LifeMed ID solution addresses key healthcare industry challenges, including the authentication of patient identity, reduction of registration time and bottlenecks, elimination of duplicate records, misidentification of patients, reduced billing errors, and increased patient safety, privacy and security," said David Batchelor, CEO of LifeMed ID. "Our cloud- based Software as a Solution ("SaaS"), facilitated by smart cards from Zebra printers, is specifically designed to solve these challenges."
LifeMed ID solutions enhance current provider registration systems — seamlessly interfacing and communicating in real time with a provider's existing registration systems, admissions discharge transfer (ADT) systems, health information exchange systems (HIE) or emergency medical systems (EMS).
"We have automated registration, eliminated duplicate records, diminished admission and billing errors, and increased patient security and satisfaction by using the LifeMed ID solution," said Roderick Bell, CIO, Resolute Health and Innovation Center for Vanguard Health. "The patient simply swipes their personalized and branded ID card and registration is completed in seconds, with a date stamp and audit trail for reporting."
In addition, TruSec ID, another LifeMed ID strategic alliance member, represents a network of card solutions resellers who will manage the sale, implementation, and support functions for all LifeMed ID solution sales, including Zebra secure ID printers.
"I am excited to be part of the strategic alliance between Zebra Technologies and LifeMed ID," said Jeff Hattara, president and chairman of TruSec ID. "This alliance brings together two companies to deliver substantial value to healthcare providers."
About Zebra Technologies
A global leader respected for innovation and reliability, Zebra Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq:ZBRA) offers products and solutions that give a virtual voice to an organization's assets, people and transactions, enabling organizations to unlock greater business value. The company's extensive portfolio of marking and printing technologies, including RFID and real-time location solutions, illuminates mission-critical information to help customers take smarter business actions. For more information about Zebra's solutions, visit www.zebra.com and follow @ZebraTechnology.
About LifeMed ID, Inc.
LifeMed ID's solution serves as an enrichment to current registration software, standardizing patient authentication and providing deterministic matching of a patient's single medical record number at all facilities. LifeMed ID uses precise patient ID matching technology and enhances workflow logic to create a consistent, up-to-date, and centralized index of each patient's identity linked to their one medical record at each facility. LifeMed ID's identifiers (biometric and/or ID cards) provide fast, automated and accurate registration access to a patient's medical record without interrupting current workflow. LifeMed ID maximizes the efficiency of healthcare delivery, minimizes administrative time, decreases financial risks and eliminates misidentification. Most importantly, LifeMed ID increases patient safety. LifeMed ID has several patent protections for portable patient data on smart cards and customers throughout the United States, with growing international expansion plans.