Oberthur Technologies supplies doctors and first responders with FIPS 201 PIV cards

Oberthur Technologies, a global leader in the delivery of high security solutions and the #1 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 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."

STRAC is the regional trauma and emergency healthcare council for the 22 county region in and around San Antonio called Trauma Service Area P (TSA-P). They issue cards to Paramedics/EMTs, hospital-based physicians, physician-based mid-level practitioners (PAs, NPs, CNSs, etc) and Emergency Management staff.

Oberthur Technologies will be demonstrating their FIPS-201-certified dual interface smart cards at HIMSS, one of the world's largest healthcare IT exhibitions, in Atlanta (booth #9153) March 1-4.