Doctors and First Responders Rely on Oberthur Technologies in Times of Emergency
Oberthur
Technologies, a global leader in the delivery of high security solutions and a provider of smart credentials to the U.S. Federal government, is
supplying doctors and first responders with FIPS 201 compliant, physical and
logical access Personal Identify Verification (PIV) cards to assist in
response to disaster.
The cards, which were first issued by Southwest Texas Regional Advisory
Council (STRAC) in 2006, were being used by physicians, paramedics and first
responders to gain access to emergency facilities and hospitals throughout
the San Antonio area. The cards enabled all 35 hospitals in the regional
trauma service area to be linked to a comprehensive, web-based database that
could be updated daily to confirm card holder identity and emergency response
capabilities.
To work with state and Federal agencies, like FEMA, STRAC members
recently decided to move to Oberthur Technologies' ID-One(tm) Cosmo card, a
FIPS-201[1] certified dual interface smart card, to ensure interoperability
between their region and federal agencies in preparation for emergency and
disaster recovery situations.
"Oberthur's cards allow us to deploy handheld authentication devices at
the perimeter of an emergency area to validate the identity of personnel
arriving at the scene, regardless of whether they are from the local, state
or federal level," said Eric Epley, Executive Director, STRAC. "This also
gives us the ability to identify essential personnel who operate or restore
critical infrastructure/ key resources (CI/KR)."
"STRAC's use of Oberthur's ID-One Cosmo card is an excellent example of
how healthcare professionals and organizations can utilize standards-based
smart card technology to enhance services- whether it be responding to an
emergency, treating a patient or working with Electronic Health Records,"
said Patrick W. Hearn, Oberthur's VP of Government and Identification Markets
- North/Central America. "The creation of proper infrastructure of medical
professional authentication with patient authentication is a proven
foundational core of an effective and secure Health-IT infrastructure."