SCM Microsystems Sets New Speed Record as NETC@RDS Electronic Healthcare Pilot Debuts at Olympics
August 13 2004 - 3:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
SCM Microsystems Sets New Speed Record as NETC@RDS Electronic
Healthcare Pilot Debuts at Olympics FREMONT, Calif. and ISMANING,
Germany, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SCM Microsystems, Inc.
(Nasdaq: SCMM; Prime Standard SMY) today announced that the company
will provide smart card readers for the European Union NETC@RDS
pilot in Greece that kicks off with the start of the summer
Olympics. The pilot is the next step in the EU NETC@RDS project
that aims to speed the cross-border verification of healthcare
benefit eligibility and claims processing for EU citizens between
participating member states. Today when an EU citizen visits
another member state and needs healthcare services, he or she has
to submit a paper form to claim reimbursement from his or her own
health insurance. Visitors to the Olympics from Germany, France,
and Austria will be the first to use a new pilot system that
replaces the two forms, the E111 for tourists and the E128 for
students or temporarily posted workers, with their national health
insurance smart cards. "We are pleased that SCM's smart card reader
will help set new speed records for health care processing as the
NETC@RDS electronic healthcare pilot debuts at the summer
Olympics," said Robert Schneider, chief executive officer of SCM
Microsystems. "This pilot is an important next step toward the
wide-scale implementation of cross-border electronic healthcare
benefits processing. The NETC@RDS program will provide European
Union citizens with faster and more convenient treatment and claims
filing, and healthcare providers will benefit from improved
eligibility verification and lower claims handling and
administrative costs." Here is how the new system works. If
healthcare services or medications are needed while at the Olympic
games, the individual presents his or her health insurance smart
card at one of the 14 participating hospital emergency departments
in Athens and Saloniki, Greece. The admittance clerk inserts the
card into SCM's smart card reader and accesses personal
identification, benefit eligibility and claims processing
information by reading it from the chip. The health insurance smart
card provides an electronic evidence of benefit entitlement for the
insured person, automates the entry of personal and entitlement
information, and establishes an electronic basis for further
billing and clearing processes. The system speeds up the
reimbursement process and reduces costs by verifying benefit
eligibility, avoiding problems with incomplete or illegible forms,
and processing claims electronically. The card also contains
readable printed information for use in other facilities not
participating in the trial. "After the start in Greece, NETC@RDS
will be expanded to all other participating countries," said Dr.
Gerhard Brenner, NETC@RDS spokesman from the central institute of
ambulatory health care in Germany. "By combining the Internet and
chip cards, administrative tasks will be simplified throughout the
European healthcare system." Public and private healthcare
providers from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy,
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Hungary are
participating in the NETC@RDS project. More information about the
project is available at http://www.netcards-project.com/new . About
SCM Microsystems SCM Microsystems is a leading supplier of
solutions that open the Digital World by enabling people to
securely access digital content and services. The company markets
and sells its smart card reader technology for network and physical
access and conditional access modules for secure digital TV
decryption to OEM customers in the government, financial,
enterprise and broadcasting markets worldwide. Global headquarters
are in Fremont, California, with European headquarters in Ismaning,
Germany. For additional information, visit the SCM Microsystems web
site at http://www.scmmicro.com/. NOTE: All trade names are either
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
DATASOURCE: SCM Microsystems, Inc. CONTACT: Manfred Mueller of SCM
Microsystems, +49 89 95 95 5140, or ; or Deb Montner of Montner
& Associates, +1-203-226-9290, or , for SCM Microsystems Web
site: http://www.scmmicro.com/
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