Smartcard security specialists Xiring and mobile phone operator SFR are working together to deploy the largest ‘Machine to Machine’ network in the French healthcare sector, allowing citizens to have their smartcards updated by pharmacists every time they are treated.
The remote updating service ‘Le Point Xiring’, is being rolled out to 12,000 pharmacies, at a rate of 600 per week, and is designed to work with the French Sesam-Vitale scheme – smartcards carried by citizens proving their membership of a health insurance system.
Sesam-Vitale, in use since 1998, currently links more than 223,000 health care professionals with the health insurance system, benefitting millions of insured patients who have the Vitale card. More than 900m claim reimbursement forms per year and reimbursement of the insured patient takes up to five days as opposed to two or three weeks it would take otherwise.
A Xiring spokesperson said: “The benefits are important: improved productivity and faster reimbursements. The system is optimised when the information contained in the Vitale cards is up-to-date, reflecting the real situation of the insured person and avoiding the manual processing of errors.”
The Le Point Xiring service will use the SFR wireless 3G / GPRS network to communicate with remote servers, meaning pharmacists no longer have to use a traditional fixed phone line. Regarding performance, the updating process has improved from 45 seconds using regular telephone networks, to less than 20 seconds with the SFR mobile network.
Vitale cards will be updateable following treatment at any location with the readers, communicating in broadband wireless mode.
The spokesperson added: “It enables the patient to update his or her Vitale card on the spot. By changing from paper-based to e-claims, the insured individuals no longer need to submit claims to their local health insurance centre. Each year, one billion claim forms are managed electronically: it speeds up the reimbursement process and lowers the cost of producing medical claim forms.”
“We provide a complete service, combining ultra-fast processing and communication, easy installation and simple use. We chose to work with SFR Entreprises because, apart from the quality of their mobile network, they have really adapted to the constraints of the sector and to the specifics of our solution,” says Georges Liberman, Xiring’s CEO.
The device is certified by the GIE Sesam-Vitale (Groupement d’Intérêt Economique SESAM-Vitale (Economic Interest Group). This complete ‘ready-to-use’ service includes the platform, unlimited communications with the Sesam-Vitale network, a top level SLA, technical maintenance and remote administration service. It has been designed to fit in all pharmacy environments and to be easily used by the general public.
“The patient can update his or her Vitale card on the spot (pharmacies, hospital, laboratory, local healthcare centre, city hall). It also strengthens the relations between pharmacists and patients with no extra cost for the pharmacist,” said the Xiring spokesperson.
Under the Sesame Vitale scheme, when health professionals arrive at their workplace, they start their Sesame-Vitale equipment, insert their health professional card (called CPS) in the double-slot reader and key in their personal identification code. The card can be left in the reader all day.
For each insured patient, the health professional uses their Sesame-Vitale equipment to create an electronic claim form (called FSE). The electronic claim can only be validated after both the health professional card and the patient’s Vitale card are inserted in the reader.
Via e-mail, the Health Insurance Center acknowledges receipt of successfully transferred claims (called positive ARL). In case of unsuccessful transfer, a failure notice (called negative ARL) is sent to the health professional.
In case of unsuccessful third party payer claim submission, a rejection notice (called NOEMIE and RSP) is sent to inform the Health Professional that he/she will not receive payment. For each negative receipt, the electronic claim must be resubmitted within two business days.
Xiring say that the addition of 12,000 pharmacies will mean that the company now has a 60% market share of the Vitale cards scheme in France, one which SFR are pleased to be involved with.
“We are glad to be associated with this ambitious project. This M-to-M solution enables secure data transfer for over 12,000 pharmacies, and puts SFR Entreprises in a leading position in the French healthcare sector for communicating devices,” adds Thierry Bergey, manager of the M-to-M business unit at SFR Entreprises.
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Joe Fernandez