Institute For The Future

RFID in hospitals

My colleague Frank Baitman sent me this snippet regarding Spyglass Consulting's new report on RFID use in hospitals:

 

Health Care Organizations Prefer Active RFID to Passive RFID

A recent study found that health care organizations prefer active radio frequency identification technology to passive RFID technology, which often is used in retail warehouses, Healthcare IT News reports.

The "Healthcare Without Bonds: Trends in RFID" study, conducted by Spyglass Consulting Group, found that passive RFID technology accounts for less than 23% of all RFID applications implemented by health care organizations. In passive RFID systems, a reader must be waved next to a transponder with an RFID chip, while in active RFID systems, signals constantly are transmitted between transponders and transceivers, Healthcare IT News reports.

"Passive RFID is not ready for primetime," said Gregg Malkary, founder and managing director of Spyglass Consulting. Spyglass, which interviewed more than 100 health care organization professionals for the study, found that lack of industrywide standards, less-expensive strategies such as barcoding, and a lack of government or regulatory mandates deter the implementation of passive RFID technology, Healthcare IT News reports.

 

The Spyglass Web site has an abstract of the report (if you want to buy it, it can be yours for only $1,995.00). Its key findings are:

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a disruptive technology
  that has broad applicability across the healthcare industry.
• HCOs are investing in RFID today.
• Active solutions are propelling growth of RFID in healthcare.
• Passive RFID solutions lack a compelling business case.

"