1. Smart cards and electronic health records
What is a smart card?
- is a pocket sized card with embedded integrated circuits which are able to process
data. Enabling the holder to purchase goods and services, enter restricted areas,
access medical, financial, or other records, or perform other operations requiring data
stored on the chip.
- Smart cards can be used for identification, authentication, and data storage
-smart cards provide a means of effecting business transactions in a flexible, source,
standard way with minimal human intervention.
- Smart cards do not contain batteries their energy is supplied by the card reader.
Smart cards in health care: Smart health cards can improve the security and privacy of
patient information, provide the secure carrier for portable medical records, reduce health
care fraud, support new processes for portable medical records, provide secure access to
emergency medical information, enable compliance with government initiatives and
mandates, and provide the platform to implement other applications as needed by the
health care organization.
Smart Card Technology Can:
Protect the privacy of patient records
•
Enable the normal processing of patient information even when network
•
communications are down.
Adapt to virtually any computer platform
•
Provide vital information in emergency care situations
•
Eliminate the need to replace certain types of computer equipment
•
Save telecommunications costs by eliminating data lines
•
Establish a platform for future and more advanced smart card applications
•
Streamline the admissions process in hospitals and clinics by increasing efficiency
•
Verify patient ID
•
Verify insurance coverage
•
Secure payment for health services
•
Provide auditing data to combat fraud
•
Help physicians, pharmacists, and patients track medications
•
Enhance marketing efforts
•
A smart card used for health
insurance in France

2. There are two types of smart cards, contact smart cards and contactless smart cards.
Contact smart cards
Contact smart cards have contact areas; they consist of several gold plated contact pads,
this is about 1 cm². contact cards need to be inserted into a reader in order to read the
information, when the card is inserted into the reader the chip makes contact with electrical
connectors that can read the information and write information back.
Contactless smart card
- there is another type of smart cards which are contactless this means that the card reader
communicates with the chip by RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, these
require close proximity to the antenna in order to read the information however it also
depends on the range, some cards need to be a few centimeters from the card reader,
others however have a wider range antenna, which means that it can read the card without
even taking it from your pocket.
- This is done in places that demand transactions to be done quickly, or hands free.
Advantages:
- It is less time consuming, and allow the person more mobility freedom
Disadvantages:
- the fact that this cards can be read to a distance, creates an obvious problem because the
information could be extracted without the user even knowing, since it can be done without
taking them from their wallet, even though some cards are encrypted, the encrypted
information can be extracted to so even if the people stealing the information is not able to
read the card it can create a clone of the card. Which is clearly is invasion of privacy plus
identity theft.
- there are different layout pads that can be found on the smart cards, the picture below
shows the different layout pads.

3. Below: Screenshot of a website which sells products, like smart cards and smart card
readers.
Related articles:
- Medical smart card plan outlined http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3569616.stm
- EU plans Europe-wide health card http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1817562.stm
Videos:
- Smart Cards for Identity Management http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zY_QG3SsL8I&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=0D369E827F46D374&playne
xt=1&index=3
Electronic health records
What is an electronic health record?
• Refers to an individual patient's medical record in digital format.
• It storage medical information on a computer file
• It can store any medical information such as x-rays, medicines of the patient, medical
treatment, personal information (blood type, phone numbers, addresses, familiars, etc)

4. • Personal photo of the patient
Advantages of electronic health record.
• Security of losing any paper information or physical information.
Example of electronic health record
Description of an electronic health record of a specific patient.
• It shows basic information such as name, birth, phone numbers, address, sex, blood
group, age, photo of the patient…
• More specific information such as type of disease, treatment process, and medicine
used, amount of medicine, record of date in which the patient enters to the hospital.
• Options for the patient such as confirmation of inability to work, chart folder, diagnostic
results, medocs (what the doctor plan to do), prescriptions, notes and reports, etc.
Google Health record: it is a personal health information which is a personal health record
service provided by Google. Here Google users are allowed to:
• Organize health information all in one place.
• Gather medical records from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies.

5. • Share information securely with a family member, doctors or caregivers.
Advantages:
• People can has his/her medical information in their own mail so they can access to it everywhere
they have access to internet.
• Hospital around the world could access to this information if the patient allows it, so the hospital
could be inform of what kind of medical treatment it has.
• The patient’s doctor could access to this health record and actualize it to have the information of
the patient updated.
Disadvantage:
• Because it is on the web, it could be every time in risk because any hacker could try access to this
information and use it in a wrong way, it means there can be an invasion of privacy.
An example of how the Google Health records looks like:

6. Related videos:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9ATw1TjJbs&feature=related
- Benefits of the Electronic Health Record http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iVS0cTmWRj4&feature=related
Bibliography:
Google health record:
https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=health&nui=1&continue=https%3A
%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhealth%2Fp%2F&followup=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhealth%2Fp%2F&rm=hide
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Health
Electronic health record:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_health_record
smart cards:
www.wikipedia.org/ smart cards
www.google.com