Biometric wristband could match health monitoring devices to electronic records

Scientists are working on creating a new biometric bracelet that could also “talk” to devices on a person’s body, allowing data collected by blood pressure cuffs and heart monitoring devices to be matched to correct electronic records.

The devices could prevent mix-ups of health records at military and veteran hospitals.

The researchers, led by Dartmouth College computer scientist Cory Cornelius, have developed technology that matches a person's bioimpedance -- their physiological response to the flow of electric current passing through tissues -- to a unique identity. Bioimpedance can be used to pinpoint specific people because everyone has a different structure of bone, flesh and blood vessels.

“Significant impedance differences exist between the varying tissue types, anatomic configurations, and tissue state, each of which may provide a unique mechanism for distinguishing between people,” according to the research paper.

The devices could be configured to discover the presence of other health monitoring devices on a patient’s body, recognize that they are on the same body and share information securely.

The researchers demonstrated the technology at the Usenix Advanced Computing System Association workshop in Bellevue, Wash., this week.

The biometric system has been demonstrated to recognize people in a household with 85 percent accuracy.