RFID Applications in Healthcare

Document Revision: 1.0
Release Date: April 20, 2006
Written by: Supply Insight Inc.

Overview

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been around for decades now but really gained importance with WalMart’s and the Department of Defense’s (DoD) recent announcements concerning the use of RFID. The RFID industry benefited from the attention even though the applications being driven by these mandates are related to the use of passive RFID in the supply chain. The most prominent industry evaluating RFID is healthcare, saddled with issues relating to managing and tracking their assets. The healthcare industry and its service providers were skeptical of the use of RFID because they were unsure of its benefits or the return on investment.

Today however, the healthcare industry is seriously considering RFID technology for different applications. This white paper attempts to highlight those applications that drive the healthcare industry.

Health Care Applications

Some of the actual and proposed RFID’s applications with significant potential to provide advantages to the healthcare industry are: tagging patient wristbands with ID and care information, managing distribution of medications, coupling with nanosensor technology to remotely monitor patients via implant, provide inventory control, and prevent theft.

Source: Pdcorp Healthcare RFID

Even as the healthcare industry debates whether RFID can deliver its promised benefits, organizations are taking steps to plan the implementation of RFID technology. RFID applications can be categorized as:

• Patient tracking and identification
  
• Asset and Equipment management and tracking
  
• Reducing drug and blood administration errors
  
• Making newborns more secure
  

To provide services for these applications, vendors are driven by regulatory forces. Without question, their decisions directly impact the quality of patient care and services in light of the standards required for compliance and accreditation. The recognized healthcare compliances are HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - 1996) and JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations-1951). By ensuring consistency through out the healthcare industry, these compliance standards make it easier for health plans, pharmacies, doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers to process claims and other transactions electronically.

We need to understand that any healthcare professional is skeptical of any vendor who boasts of being HIPAA and JCAHO compliant. Achieving HIPAA and JCAHO compliance requires a precise, coordinated effort on the part of healthcare institutions, vendors, and the business partners. The healthcare system uses a wide variety of processes to track patient treatment information, with many different types of insurance requiring claims in specific formats, codes and details, and transactions from healthcare providers and clearing houses. Uniform national standards help save billions of dollars for healthcare businesses by lowering the cost of developing and maintaining software, and reducing the time and expense of handling various transactions.

RFID provides improved communication, productivity, and information.

• Communication: Identify, track and locate objects or people; provide inventory management, asset tracking, security and loss prevention, monitor maintenance, rental equipment, and operations.
  
• Productivity: optimize utilization of assets and resources; improve the productivity and utilization of assets, staff, vendors, customers, patients and facility.
  
• Information: informed decision making, liabilities, compliance (HIPAA, JCAHO), budgets, executive decisions, supply chain and product recalls.

Source: White Papers On RFID In Healthcare

RFID technology can greatly contribute to the healthcare industry with Wi-Fi and voice over IP (VoIP), creating a single information system that can track patients and hospital assets, improve patient safety, play a role in running clinical trials of drugs, manage critical care assets and hospital equipment, reduce counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products, reduce medical errors, and cut costs improving efficiency. The most important contribution of RFID technology is the co-existence or replacement of the current bar coding required by HIPAA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), JCAHO, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

For successful implementation of RFID technology, the healthcare industry should understand certain basic concepts such as the different types of RFID tags:

An RFID system running on Wi-Fi networks and the active RFID tag system saves immense time and strain in tracking assets. RFID technology in combination with nanosensors to monitor the different biometrics from the body and implanted devices can be the greatest recognized potential for the healthcare industry.

Some hospitals are already set to begin active RFID pilots for clinical equipment management to gain confidence and experience with RFID.

Supply Insight Inc., aids the healthcare industry in applications that must conform to the security and privacy regulations set by HIPAA and  JCAHO’s requirements regarding positive patient identification, addressing each acts’s major components: privacy, security and portability. With the insight and good judgment to know what it takes to succeed on-time and on-budget, Supply Insight caters to the advanced technologies essential for any compliance effort that can improve patient care, data security and employee productivity. It’s only a matter of time and confidence until the chaotic healthcare environment realizes the value and importance of RFID technology in addressing long standing issues and providing rapid financial return on investment.

Supply Insight is an RFID software and services company that helps its customer realize business benefits through strategic adoption of this cutting edge technology.  Supply Insight offers a distributed RFID framework and a wide range of industry solutions to generate a faster return on its customers’ investment.  Supply Insight is a privately held company located in Newington, Connecticut, USA. 
Learn more about us at www.supplyinsight.com.
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