Fingerprints – what exactly is stored?

If you use fingerprints to allow easy patient registration, you may wonder just what exactly is stored?

When you do an initial scan the fingerprint you see an image on the screen with red registration points. The fingerprint image itself is never stored, only the location and orientation of each of the registration points.

These points are stored as a small binary file (typically less then 500 bytes) in the Spinalogic database. They cannot be used to recreate the fingerprint.

When a patient registers, their fingerprint is again scanned and registration points generated. These registration points are then compared to those in the database for a match.

The algorithms used are used under license from NeuroTechnology who have been a major player in this industry since 1990. Their products are used in airports, nation-scale government security to protect against voter fraud, corporate access control and other health care applications.

While no fingerprint images are stored, the registration points that can be used for matching are. They are subject to the same security as the rest of the Spinalogic application which in turn depends on your office privacy and security policy and it’s implementation.

In Australia, you are required by law to have a Privacy Policy according to the Privacy Act 1998. Guidelines are published by the Australian Government.

If you have any patients who are not fully comfortable using the fingerprint scanners for id, they can always use the PIN identification. Fingerprints are just faster and easier.