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Penn Medicine, a network of hospitals and healthcare providers serving Philadelphia, eastern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, needed Employee ID Badges for their entire staff.
Pennsylvania Hospital, the flagship facility of Penn Medicine, is the nation’s first hospital founded in 1751 by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin. Over the past decade, Penn Medicine has expanded into a network of hospitals and associated facilities. With the expansion, they needed to consolidate those new hospitals and facilities to an interoperable employee ID badge that worked for staff across all network locations.
The new employee ID badges had to provide secure physical access to locations from parking lots to operating rooms. Additionally, they had to be compatible with downstream ancillary systems. The badging solution required a single, interoperable ID for secure document printing, staff locker access, and everything in between.
Penn Medicine needed to consolidate hospitals and have common name branding. At the same time, the badges needed to be customized to the needs of individual departments within the system. Mental Health departments, for example, required special treatment for printed names on the badge (first name and last initial only) to protect employee identities.
These new employee ID badges needed interoperability across a mind-boggling variety of physical access control and ancillary systems. Physical access ranged from doctor offices and ERs to secure wards and labs. Downstream applications ranged from secure document printing to payroll time clocks, vending machines for scrubs, cafeteria meal plans, staff check-in, and even tap-and-go access to patient records — all on one card.
K&A had already been working with the University of Pennsylvania when Penn Medicine, its affiliated teaching hospital, started plans for interoperable employee ID badges. K&A’s solid track record of providing ID badging systems, printers, consumables, and on-site printer maintenance for UPenn earned the recommendation to Penn Medicine.
While other vendors were in the running, K&A understood — not only how the cards worked — but also how to make a smooth transition in badge distribution and exchange, eliminating vulnerabilities at every point in the process. The bottom line: K&A’s experience stands out and results in our ability to consider and predict niche aspects of secure ID. We’ve been doing this so long — we already understand all the ins and outs to consider while working towards Penn Medicine’s goal of a single, system-wide interoperable card.
Interoperability across a network with as many locations and systems as Penn Medicine is a daunting puzzle. The solution had to whiteboard and combine the proximity technology for existing PACS readers, magstripe encoding for ancillary downstream systems (like vending and meal plans), and integrated circuit (RFID) chip technology for secure tap-and-go access to patient records. Plus, all these technologies would work together within a card printed with a barcode for the employee time and attendance system still in play.
STEP 1: It starts with a whiteboard — a comprehensive mapping of all the access locations and systems. Application and key planning is refined through interviews with representatives in every department. As a result, we now had all the details laid out in a future-proof plan.
STEP 2: From the future-proof whiteboard, K&A designs the tech. Then, we provide proof of concept from the first pilot test before moving on to field testing and fine-tuning until everything works together across the whole system.
STEP 3: Next, we refine the front-end result: the appearance of the printed card. The card has to be uniform and meet a brand standard, but — depending on the facility and the department — there needs to be some customization. Facility names, role-based color codes, and department-specific exceptions were all considerations.
STEP 4: Finally, secure proofs & the final go-ahead leads to Penn Medicine’s first 40k cards. The process involved securely exchanging data files and images. Once the last proof was approved, K&A produced the cards, which were sorted and packed for easy distribution. In the end, K&A delivered a starting batch of 40k cards, plus the data in a format they could mass upload without wasting time and money on data entry.
K&A’s mass distribution capabilities are unparalleled in the credential services industry. Provide us with a list of addresses and product requirements, and we will deliver across your enterprise in record time — global or domestic. Get accurate shipment tracking, fast delivery times, and dedicated attention to your order from A to Z.
Interoperable across all healthcare systems & locations
Maintained by K&A, their secure credential custodian
Entrusting K&A with badge production and ID supplies
Our White Glove Services can make the most challenging issue feel easy.
With K&A’s personalized white glove services, you can relax while we provide secure, future-proofed identity management solutions — fit just for you.
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