Covid digital passport design plays a potentially fundamental role in the nation’s COVID-19 response, amid stricter vaccination requirements and a potential winter surge in cases. New vaccination requirements span across industries, from localities implementing vax-pass requirements for sporting events to industry giants beginning to require vaccination for their employees. Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker recently announced a new vaccine mandate for individuals working at nursing homes, while UMass Memorial Health will also require staff vaccination. New York and California similarly require weekly testing or proof of vaccination for all state workers.

As Corporate Insight’s research illustrates, consumers expect seamless online experiences that allow them to perform tasks with ease—including healthcare management tasks. These rising consumer expectations coupled with vaccination requirements creates the need for platforms that are consumer-centric, informative and portable.

These consumer expectations coupled with vaccination requirements creates the need for platforms that are consumer-centric, informative and portable.

Mobile devices are a good starting place for the solution to these growing healthcare payer and provider needs.

Vaccine mandate success and probable legislature changes creates a need for good COVID digital passport design.

Data from multiple sources points to the effectiveness of mandates on increasing vaccination rates. Vaccine mandates increase vaccination rates, and reduce instances of illness. President Biden’s support for vaccine mandates continues following his September 2 order requiring the vaccination of nearly 100 million Americans. Biden’s legislative rollout continues to expand the number of individuals required to be vaccinated and amps up the relevance of digital vaccination documentation platforms exponentially. With such documentation required more and more, healthcare providers and tech companies do well to focus on consumer’s needs.

Firms like Apple and Excelsior Pass Plus line up to release new digital vaccine-record platforms

Apple plans to bring verifiable COVID-19 vaccination cards to the Apple Wallet app as part of a future iPhone software update. This added feature will utilize international SMART Health Cards standard to produce proof of vaccination, a standard which has already been adopted by New York, California, Hawaii, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and Louisiana. SMART Health Cards were developed by the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI)—a consortium of leaders in the tech and healthcare space, including Salesforce, Mayo Clinic and Microsoft.

SMART Health Cards are QR codes that provide quick access to vaccination and test result information. SMART health cards display the user’s name, DOB and clinical information related to the vaccine or test. Relevant clinical information includes the date, manufacturer of the vaccine, type of test and location received. The users’ SMART health cards are accompanied by the SMART Health Card Verification App which displays color-coded responses to the user’s credentials associated with the QR code. This cross-platform technology helps users carry their proof of vaccination across real-world and digital spaces, without the need for multiple systems or carrying one’s physical vaccination card.

Kaiser Permanente recently introduced SMART Health Cards to its users. Members can download the SMART Health Card, which displays a scannable QR code, or can use a printable certificate PDF which is made available on the firm’s member site. Members must use CommonPass app to import their SMART Health Card.

This image shows the COVID-19 vaccination certificate on Kaiser Permanente's member site.
Member Site SMART Kaiser Permanente Member Site COVID-19 Vaccine Certificate Page

New York State offers another example of COVID digital passport design. In March, New York launched Excelsior Pass, the first state-wide COVID pass in the United States. Users can download the Excelsior Wallet mobile app and generate their digital COVID pass with a unique QR code. The Excelsior platform offers three categories of COVID-19 passes: a vaccination pass that is available fifteen days after administration of the final dose, a PCR-test pass showing negative results for three days following a PCR test, and an Antigen Test pass showing a negative result for six hours after an Antigen test. The Excelsior Pass Plus app is accompanied by the Excelsior Verification app which scans users digital or printed QR codes for verification.

These screenshots show the New York State Covid-19 Excelsior Pass app's home screen and QR code screen.
New York State Covid Excelsior Pass App Home Screen and QR Code Screen

Corporate Insight closely monitors the digital patient experience across leading health systems. Within our Health System Monitor, we see organizations responding to new and changing pandemic regulations to provide care for patients. Access further insights on the digital experiences from the nation’s leading healthcare organizations on our blog.