1 Copyright © 2019, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 1 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-7525-2.ch001 ABSTRACT The aim of this chapter is to introduce biometrics systems and discuss the essential components of bio- metrics technologies in the healthcare system. The discussion also includes the state-of-the-art biometrics technologies, selection criteria of a suitable biometrics system, biometrics identity management, and multi-biometrics fusion for healthcare biometrics system. INTRODUCTION Recently the concernment for biometrics is increasing swiftly to safeguard a patient’s secrecy and the confidentialness of patient’s actuality in the healthcare system. Identifying a patient and protecting a patient file is a ticklish task in any healthcare system. Due to improper identification, patients may lose their life in some cases. An unconscious patient cannot present an ID. The traditional patient tagging or mismatch between patient tag and hospital records are not free from flaws due to clerical mistakes or errors. This type of error can raise the inaccurate identification, wrong blood transfusion, or deceitful medicine infliction, which may be very dangerous for a patient’s life. Therefore, there is a need for robust identification using biometrics in the healthcare system. The term biometrics is a combination of two terms – ‘bios’ means life and ‘metrics’ means assess- ment. It refers to the metrics related to the physical and behavioral traits of human beings. The biometrics technology is implemented to analyze people for their identification, access control or surveillance by means of their biological information. Every person is unique and comprises a separate identity in the form of physical traits like fingerprint, face, iris, hand geometry and behavioral traits like voice, typing rhythm, and gait. Biometrics technologies are defined as automated way of recognizing or ascertaining the identity of an individual arisen on an idiosyncratic biological (anatomical or physiological) or be- Biometric Technologies in Healthcare Biometrics Rinku Datta Rakshit Asansol Engineering College, India Dakshina Ranjan Kisku National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India