Patients at NYU Langone Health facilities will soon be able to check in for appointments using Amazon’s palm-scanning technology, the company announced Monday.
The contactless service, called Amazon One, can identify patients “securely and quickly,” according to a release. NYU Langone said the technology will help it speed up sign-ins, alleviate administrative strain on staff, and reduce errors and wait times.
For a health system that handles more than 10 million patient visits each year, every minute counts. With Amazon One, NYU Langone anticipates it will be able to cut the time patients spend at their front desks from about two to three minutes to less than a minute, Andrew Rubin, NYU Langone senior vice president of clinical affairs, told CNBC.
“That’s both a positive experience for the patient to be able to actually get in faster, and requires less work on our part having to authenticate who the patient is,” Rubin said.
Amazon will not store or access any of patients’ health data or personal information beyond their palm prints, NYU Langone said. Participation is voluntary, and patients can opt out at any time.
NYU Langone operates six hospitals and more than 320 outpatient facilities, and it’s the first health-care organization to ever deploy Amazon One. The collaboration has been about nine months in the making, said Nader Mherabi, NYU Langone’s chief digital and information officer.
Amazon said it plans to explore additional applications for Amazon One within health care in the future, such as credentialing for access to high-security areas and shared computer systems.
The company introduced Amazon One at its Go cashierless stores in 2020, and it rolled out to all Whole Foods Market locations in 2023. NYU Langone will be the largest third-party deployment of Amazon One to date.
The service will be available at NYU Langone sites in the New York metro area starting next week, and it will expand to other locations this year.
Amazon and NYU Langone did not disclose terms of the deal.
– CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
