Fujitsu has introduced a patient-registration kiosk to reduce administrative costs for healthcare providers. The kiosk was announced at the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Atlanta Monday.

The Med-Serv 50 is an "open hardware platform" that independent software vendors can use to run applications. Along with patient check-in, Fujitsu says the kiosk can be used by patients to fill out satisfaction surveys and pay outstanding balances or co-pay fees.

The kiosk has a 19-inch display and integrated camera. For security, Fujitsu includes as an option its PalmSecure palm vein biometric reader for authentication.

Allscripts, a Fujitsu partner, uses the Med-Serv 50 as the foundation for its patient kiosk. Allscripts has integrated the kiosk with its electronic health records technology to enable patients at doctors' offices to view personal information, including a health maintenance plan.

Fujitsu is one of many vendors looking to grab a share of the $17.2 billion in federal loans and grants earmarked for healthcare providers through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money is to help doctors, hospitals, and clinics implement electronic health record systems and other cost-cutting technology.

Along with introducing the Med-Serv 50, Fujitsu on Monday also announced IT infrastructure services for healthcare providers. Fujitsu datacenter options for healthcare organizations include cloud computing, managed data center services and hosted offshore solutions.

The company also unveiled the Healthcare Customer Feedback Management Solution, built on the Oracle customer relationship management suite. The Fujitsu system is designed to help hospitals to track, analyze, and report on customer feedback to improve service.

Fujitsu is also partnering with Cerylion in upgrading the Fujitsu Telecom Expense Management system. Fujitsu TEM 2.0 provides immediate visibility into all network financial transactions in order to find ways to reduce voice, data, and wireless network infrastructure expenses.