NYU Langone Health has partnered with Amazon to install new palm-scanning sensors in its New York City hospitals that patients can use to identify themselves before appointments with heightened efficiency and security. It is the first health care institution to adopt the technology, called Amazon One — which is slated for availability at all the medical center’s locations by this summer.
Although the hospital center already used contactless palm scanners for check-ins, the Amazon technology was introduced with aims to reduce patient wait times — from around two to three minutes per patient to under one minute — and minimize the strain of front desk staffing shortages. Nader Mherabi, NYU Langone’s executive vice president and vice dean, told CNBC that the hospital center has been working on the collaboration with Amazon for about nine months.
“One of NYU Langone’s goals is to leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance the patient experience,” Mherabi said. “We make all decisions with our patients in mind first and foremost, and we’re always looking for ways to improve their experience through technology. As with all new initiatives and technology of this scale, we will optimize over time and meet the needs of our patients.”
When patients enrolled in the Amazon One system scan their hands with the sensor as they enter the building, the technology captures images of their palms and veins to identify people in less than one second and with almost perfect accuracy. Amazon said that the tech system does not store patients’ health records beyond palm-print identification data.
NYU Langone is the largest third-party user of the Amazon One technology. After initially introducing a palm-scanning system at cashier-less Go stores in 2020, Amazon has implemented the technology at numerous stadiums, fitness centers and other spaces — notably Whole Foods Market locations in 2023. Looking ahead, the company aims to implement Amazon One in other health care spaces.
“With Amazon One, we’ve created a palm recognition system that respects privacy while making check-ins simpler when patients have more important things on their minds,” Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice president at Amazon, said in the press release. “It’s meaningful to see our technology make a real difference in people’s daily lives and provide a more frictionless health care journey without ever compromising on security or patient trust.”
Contact Vaishnavi Girish at [email protected].
