Free Microchips to Alzheimer's Patients

The October 23-November 5 issue of the Florida Medical Business News featured a story about a joint venture between VeriChip and the Alzheimer's Community Care of West Palm Beach. VeriChip is offering free VeriMed radiofrequency implantable microchips to 200 patients with the disease. There are two goals for the undertaking. The first is to demonstrate that the product and the data base can raise care standards and improve the efficiency of care delivery. The second goal is to help persuade health insurance companies and CMS to provide reimbursement for the service. If one of the 200 patients is found wandering, law enforcement officials can take the patient to one of 12 hospitals with chip readers located in Palm Beach, Martin or St Lucie Counties. The chip contains a 16 digit number which enables medical personnel to access information stored by VeriChip. The patient database includes identification, next of kin contact information, allergies, medications, advance directives, and other pertinent material.