New card acts as nanny

An Arizona company has introduced a debit card with V-chip-like computer controls, letting parents set daily, weekly or monthly spending limits, review statements and even select where it can be used, according to AMonline.com, citing the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

According to the report, parents can make sure their children`s debit cards work at gas stations but not liquor stores. The Allow Card Web site lets the family review the records.

Attempts to launch similar cards have fizzled in the past, but the designers of the Allow Card think they have found a way to make their offering succeed - by marketing it through interest groups such as PTAs while splitting the fees it generates up a chain of distributors. The card costs $20 to activate and $3.50 a month.

The smart card integrated circuit (IC) market received a strong boost in 2003 and 2004 with an explosive growth in the subscriber identity module (SIM) segment, reports CXOtoday.com.

The uptake of Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) cards is increasing and this is significant enough to drive continued growth in the overall market.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan World Smart Card IC Markets reveals that revenues in this market totalled $2.098 billion in 2004 and projects to reach $4.188 billion in 2010.

Given that security concerns are increasing by the day for many countries, these applications will drive strong global growth over the next 10 to 15 years.

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) has become one of the first big hospital trusts in England to begin using smart cards in conjunction with an electronic patient records system.

E-Health Insider reports that UCLH is using the cards to provide staff with quick, secure and easy access to its new electronic patient record system - Carecast supplied by IDX. The trust and its supplier have worked closely together to integrate the use of smart cards to control access to patient information held on the EPR system.

An initial smart card pilot was completed in late November, with the cards initially being used by about 30 trust staff. The trust plans to roll-out smart cards to additional UCLH staff and clinicians this year, eventually providing them to most of the trust`s 2 500 staff.

"While electronic health records enable us to provide higher quality patient care, we are also sensitive to patients` concerns about the privacy and security of their records," says UCLH chief executive Robert Naylor.