Patient.com adds ID.me verification to healthcare platform

Patient.com has partnered with ID.me to add identity verification to its platform, giving users a single verified identity for healthcare administration in the US.

Under the integration, people creating a Patient.com account will verify their identity through ID.me during onboarding. Patient.com says it is the first consumer healthcare administration platform to use ID.me's identity verification in this way.

The agreement addresses a longstanding problem in the US healthcare system: patients are often asked to enter the same personal, insurance and medical information across provider offices, online portals and paper forms. Patient.com says its platform is designed to replace that process with a single profile that patients control and can share with participating providers.

That profile includes information intended to help users understand insurance cover, deductibles and expected costs before an appointment. Participating providers, in turn, can receive patient-authorised information earlier in the process, potentially reducing repeat administrative work and allowing staff to prepare before the visit.

How it works

ID.me's role is limited to proving and authenticating identity. Patient.com says ID.me will not receive, store or view healthcare benefits, insurance cover or cost information, which will remain stored separately within Patient.com and under the patient's control.

Once verified, a user's profile can be reused in future interactions, rather than requiring a new intake form, insurance card image or medical history at each provider. Patient.com says this allows a person's verified identity to travel with them beyond any single provider-specific portal.

Dan Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Patient.com, said the partnership is intended to build confidence at the start of the user journey.

"Trust cannot be something we add after the fact. Trust has to be built into the first interaction and in every question or interaction subsequent," Johnson said.

"Before patients can confidently manage or share their information, they need to know their identity is protected and that they remain in control. ID.me gives us that trusted starting point by enabling security and privacy without handling the healthcare information patients bring into Patient.com," he added.

Identity layer

ID.me is already widely used in the US as a digital identity wallet. The company says it has more than 175 million members and is accepted across 24 federal agencies, more than 50 state government agencies and more than 100 healthcare organisations.

According to ID.me, its technology meets US federal standards for high-assurance identity verification and authentication set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Patient.com says ID.me's existing scale means many consumers may already be familiar with the sign-in and verification process.

For Patient.com, the partnership also supports a broader model built around patient consent. The company says it operates independently of hospitals, insurers, employers and pharmaceutical groups, allowing consumers to manage information in one place and authorise its use when needed.

The use of a verified identity is intended to give healthcare organisations confidence that an authorisation has come from the patient rather than a third party. That is significant in healthcare administration, where consent, record accuracy and access to personal information often sit at the centre of both compliance and workflow.

Wes Turbeville, Senior Vice President of Federal and Healthcare at ID.me, said the arrangement addresses a repeated burden for patients as they move through the system.

"Healthcare still asks people to prove who they are again and again as they move between providers, platforms and services," Turbeville said.

"By pairing a reusable, high-assurance digital identity with Patient.com's independent, consent-based model, we can make it easier for patients to manage and share their information on their terms. This model also gives healthcare organisations confidence that they are interacting with the right person," he added.

Broader push

Patient.com described ID.me as the first partner announced in a wider ecosystem it is building around healthcare administration. The platform focuses on the non-clinical aspects of care, including insurance benefits, estimated costs, financial assistance options and lower-cost care choices.

That emphasis reflects growing attention in US healthcare technology on reducing paperwork, repeated data entry and billing uncertainty around patient visits. While many provider groups and insurers offer their own portals, those systems are often limited to a single organisation and do not move with the patient across the wider system.

Patient.com's approach is to place the user, rather than the provider, at the centre of that information flow. The addition of identity verification is meant to address one of the practical barriers to that model: confirming that the person controlling the information is the patient entitled to do so.

ID.me says its reusable credential allows individuals to verify themselves once and then sign in wherever the service is accepted. In healthcare, that could reduce repeated identity checks as consumers move between platforms and services.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the partnership. Consumers can create a free Patient.com account through the company's website or mobile app.