Password management and single sign-on are only initial forays in identity management. The next step is federated identity management, which promises to authenticate people and paperwork in health care's increasingly fragmented business world
Federated identity management provides the means to unify isolated entities. In addition, federated identification intersects with the country's push toward electronic health records.
A hospital, for example, could use federation to extend the benefits of single sign-on to its business partners, such as physicians groups, insurance companies and pharmacies. | 
