According to the U.S. Department of Justice there were 16.6 million identity theft victims in 2012, however that number has skyrocketed to 70 million in 2013. (That does not take into account all the current news regarding Target, EBay, and the list goes on. Smart chip cards have been a part of EMV (Europay, Visa, Mastercard) are a safer alternative to magnetic strip cards. Widely deployed in other 80 countries, they have been slow to be adopted here in the United States. A large part of this slow adoption has been the cost associated with the replacement of the magnetic swipe systems, ATMS and the production of the cards. At this point the liability is currently with the credit card issuers, but that all seems to be changing by 2015. The liability it seems more than likely will pass on to the merchant.
What is envisioned for healthcare is a multi-faceted authentication card. This is more than likely to be a magnetic strip/smart chip card with a micro PDF. Similar to what the DOD uses today. However, going several steps further is the addition of NFC (Near Field Communications), BTLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), selective memory storage (8GB and higher), a random key generator, a biometric reader, and a rechargeable battery (2 years power), all in a format of a credit card.
