RFID in
Healthcare
PRESENTED BY :
LAUREN GUNN AND CONNOR ZALE
RFID Technology
▪ Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a
technology that allows for the transfer of
data using radio frequency
electromagnetic fields.
▪ Data is then used for identification,
tracking and security of people, animals
and objects.
▪ RFID can be useful in a clinical setting by
enhancing patient identification,
managing assets and equipment,
securing newborns and reducing drug and
blood administration errors.
History of RFID
▪ In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt employed radio signals to
track thunderstorms.
▪ During World War II, radar was introduced to track enemy
aircraft.
▪ Modern RFID use
▪ Tracking and timing marathon runners
▪ Electronic Identification for payment at toll roads
▪ Public transit smart cards, identification of retail items to
prevent theft
▪ Manage library collections and patron registration.
RFID vs. Similar Technology
▪ Bar codes and associated technology are being replaced with RFID tags and
readers in hospitals.
▪ Unlike other technology, RFID has no line-of-sight requirement, which means
it provides wireless unique identification at the item level that can be
seamlessly retrieved at the group level.
▪ The radio waves are able to penetrate many materials and therefore can be
employed where tags are not readily visible.
▪ Information storage capacity is much less limited than with bar codes, with
as much as 2 kilobytes of data stored by a microchip in a RFID.
RFID Properties
▪ Silicon-based memory chips with a copper or aluminum antenna (referred to
as tags) and signal readers.
▪ The tags are smart labels and have a chip and an antenna as their main
components.
▪ RFID enables tracking and monitoring of items over distances that range
from about a centimeter to hundreds of meters.
▪ Healthcare RFID, considered to be in its trial phase in 2004, is now one of the
fastest developing Types of HIT.
▪ A market research firm in Cambridge, UK, estimates that the market for RFID
systems in healthcare will rise from $90 million in 2006 to $2.1 billion in
2016.
RFID Classification
▪ Whether the RFID tag is passive or active
▪ This distinction also determines the size and strength of the signal.
▪ The data-transmission frequency (e.g. low/high frequency, ultra
wide band)
▪ If the transmitted data operates solely within a single application
(closed-loop system) or are shared across applications or, possibly,
across institutions (open-loop systems)
▪ Whether the tag is read-only or read-and-write
Passive vs. Active
▪ Two types of RFID tags are utilized in RFID systems:
▪ Passive- has the ability to store and transmit information, but
does not have its own power source. It can only be read by a
nearby RFID scanner when the tag is within 18 inches to 30 feet
of it, depending on the frequency employed.
▪ Active- can transmit information on its own because of its
integrated battery. Active tags can continuously transmit and
receive signals over long distances, and can store larger amounts
of information.
RFID components
▪ Hardware (i.e., RFID tags, readers, collectors, and servers)
▪ Software (i.e., middleware and software system applications)
▪ Hardware components are tasked with the unique wireless
identification and physical location at the item/person level.
▪ Software components transform the rough data into meaningful
and usable information and then feed it to different intranet webbased applications.
Current Issues in Healthcare
▪ The Institute of Medicine estimated that between 44,000-98,000
deaths occur each year due to medically related errors.
▪ It is difficult to estimate expenditures in the Medical Industrial
Complex.
▪ Five Identified problems that cause healthcare operation failures
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Medical Mistakes
Increased Costs
Theft Loss
Drug Counterfeiting
Inefficient Work Flow
Medical Mistakes
▪ Medical errors are the leading cause of death, which kill more
people each year than AIDS or airplane crashes.
▪ IOM estimated that “tens of thousands of deaths and injuries are
caused by medical mistakes each year.”
▪ FDA has estimated that half of the drug errors are preventable by
adopting appropriate information technologies.
▪ Medical malpractice can occur due to patient misidentification,
adverse drug events, infant missing or mismatch and accidents
that involve inclusion of surgical tools in a patient body after an
operation.
Increased Costs
▪ Healthcare providers are focused on reducing costs and increasing
efficiency especially in managing supplies and medical equipment.
▪ Inefficiency affects inventory management and the average hospital
“over spares” many consumables such as dressings and instruments by
approximately 30% which reduces usable capital that can be used for
patient care.
▪ A hospital pharmacy can use up to 40% of expenditures on rush order,
non-contract items and costs can be reduced if those purchases can be
anticipated.
▪ Conservative estimates project that a good health information system
could save the economy $140 billion a year which is about 10% of the
total health-care spending.
Theft Loss
▪ Loss and theft of equipment and
supplies costs hospitals $4,000
per a bed each year which is a
loss of $3.9 billion annually with
over 975,000 beds in the U.S.
▪ Medical organizations are
interested in reducing costs due
to theft and loss by tracking
equipment and supplies better,
in order to reduce the overall cost
of care.
Drug Counterfeiting
▪ FDA estimates that up to 40% of
the medicines shipped from
countries such as Colombia and
Mexico may be counterfeit.
▪ Pharmaceutical Industry reported
that it loses $2 billion per a year
due to counterfeit drugs.
▪ Pharmaceutical Industry and
healthcare providers are
searching for new ways to track
medications and verify
authenticity in the most cost
effective method.
Inefficient Work Flow
▪ Hospitals experience inefficient work flow when
allocating resources in real time becomes
difficult.
▪ Reduce search time for staff
▪ Locate equipment quicker to allow for regular
maintenance
RFID Uses in Hospital
▪ Can track inventories, mobile
equipment, and people in real time as
the tagged item travels around the
hospital.
▪ Such mobile equipment includes
wheelchairs, infusion pumps, and
blood supplies.
▪ RFID bracelets can be used Help to
prevent infants from being switched in
hospital nurseries, to track Alzheimer's
sufferers and to link patients to their
medical records
RFID Uses in Hospital
▪ According to one previous study in Massachusetts, foreign objects
were left in the body in one out of every 10,000 surgeries.
▪ In another study, those objects added four days to an average
hospital stay and resulted in 57 U.S. deaths in 2000. Two-thirds of
all objects left in the body cavity were sponges.
▪ RFID chips can help surgeons avoid leaving sponges inside
patients
▪ A study done at Stanford used sponges that were rigged with a
20mm diameter radio-frequency ID chip.
▪ Surgeon accurately located the inserted sponge or sponges in less
than three seconds.
RFID Uses in Hospital
▪ Improving the overall efficiency of care
delivery by virtual map
▪ Allows staff to better communicate with
each other, more quickly assign rooms and
care providers to staff.
▪ Done by tracing mobile assets, patients,
and medical staff within
departments/hospital floors.
▪ Uses easily recognizable icons, symbols,
and event- designated color coding, the
application can provide visible, accurate,
and timely data available at a glance to
users without requiring any technical
competency.
RFID Uses in Hospital
▪ Software/middleware data analytic
functionalities
▪ Based on aggregating the individual
event data to achieve better hospital
management
▪ The figure to the right is a snapshot of
such an RFID system tool that delivers
daily/weekly/monthly hospital-wide
assets utilization data for accurate cost
and financial analysis.
Table of RFID applications used or being installed
in US hospitals as of Jan. 2009
Why Use RFID for Humans?
▪ There are 45 million at-risk patients in the US today
▪ Risk is that patients with previous health issues could wind up in
an emergency room, unconscious and unable to communicate for
themselves
▪ Those patients at risk include those with:
▪ diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, cognitive impairments, seizure disorders and
Alzheimer's, and people with complex medical device implants, such as
pacemakers, stents, joint replacements and organ transplants.
Human Implantation- Verichip
▪ A company known as VeriChip and
its parent company Applied Digital
have been developing implantable
RFID chips for the past 15 years
primarily to tag livestock and pets.
▪ The company began marketing its
technology for humans after the US
Food and Drug Administration
approved its VeriMed™ RFID system
as a medical device in 2004.
▪ VeriChip's efforts to implant humans
with chips have been highly
debated.
Human Implantation
▪ The chips measure less than 12 mm by 2.1 mm.
▪ Treated with a chemical before implantation to
discourage their migration within the body.
▪ The procedure costs US $200–400 and recipients
must pay an annual fee to maintain their records on
VeriChip's password-protected online database.
▪ The company charges US $20 a year for a basic
record, and US $80 a year for a complete personal
health record.
Case Study
▪ In May 2006, William Koretsky made medical history when he
became the first emergency patient to be identified from an
implanted radiofrequency identification (RFID) chip.
▪ Koretsky, a 44-year-old sergeant with the Bergen County Police
Department had crashed his car into a tree during a high-speed
chase.
▪ An emergency-room scan revealed an RFID chip in his arm, which
had been implanted in 2004 for identification purposes.
▪ Doctors retrieved the ID number, identified Koretsky using an
online database, reviewed his health history and learned that he
had type 1 diabetes.
▪ While treating his other injuries, physicians quickly began
monitoring Koretsky's blood sugar level.
▪ The RFID chip, which was manufactured by VeriChip might have
saved his life.
Worries over RFID technology
▪ Hackers could retrieve and copy medical information from an RFID
chip.
▪ There is concern about the potential hazard of electromagnetic
interference (EMI) to electronic medical devices
▪ Has potential to interfere with pacemakers, implantable cardioverter
defibrillators (ICDs), and other electronic medical devices.
▪ Ethical, privacy, legal issue potentially associated with human RFID
implantations
Legal Concerns of RFID
▪ The U.S. State Department has announced that it will be adding
RFID chips to passports while states such as Virginia are
considering adding the chips to driver’s licenses.
▪ Worries over unknown searches
▪ Two states, Wisconsin and North Dakota, recently passed laws
prohibiting the forced implantation of microchips in humans.
▪ A common agreement for the ethics of implanting individuals with
RFID technology has still not been reached. This debate will be
important in determining the future of RFID.
Conclusion
▪ RFID has the potential to improve healthcare by decreasing
medical errors, decreasing costs, decreasing theft and loss of
medical equipment, decreasing the drug counterfeiting problem
and bettering work flow
▪ Though there are some issues associated with this technology
especially in regards to human implantation, the benefits seem to
out weigh the risks
Works Cited
▪
Coustasse, Alberto, PhD, Shane Tomblin, PhD, and Chelsea Slack, MS. "Impact of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Technologies on the
Hospital Supply Chain: A Literature Review." Perspectives in Health Information Management (2013): 1-17. Web. May 2014.
<http://perspectives.ahima.org/impact-of-radio-frequency-identification-rfid-technologies-on-the-hospital-supply-chain-a-literaturereview/#.U2OqileKL0C>.
▪
"Radiation-Emitting Products." Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). N.p., n.d. Web. May 2014. <http://www.fda.gov/radiationemittingproducts/radiationsafety/electromagneticcompatibilityemc/ucm116647.htm>.
▪
“RFID Solutions for Healthcare”. Motorola Solutions.
<http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Business/Solutions/Industry%20Solutions/RFID%20Solutions/RFID_in_Healthcare/_documents/_
staticfiles/Application_Brief_RFID_in_Healthcare.pdf>
▪
Sieberg, Daniel. "Is RFID Tracking You?" CNN. Cable News Network, 23 Oct. 2006. Web. 02 May 2014.
<http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/07/10/rfid/>.
▪
Todd Lewan. Microchips in humans spark privacy debate. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2007-07-21chips_N.htm?csp=15>
▪
Wolinsky, Howard. "Tagging Products and People. Despite Much Controversy, Radiofrequency Identification Chips Have Great Potential in
Healthcare." EMBO Reports 7.10 (2006): 965-68. NCBI. Web. May 2014. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618368/>.
▪
Vilamovska, Anna M. Improving the Quality and Cost of Healthcare Delivery The Potential of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology.
Santa Monica CA: Rand Corporation, 2010. Pardee Rand Graduate School. Rand Corporation. Web. May 2014.
<http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/rgs_dissertations/2010/RAND_RGSD239.pdf>.
▪
Yao, Wen, Chao-Hsien Chu and Zang Li. “The Use of RFID in Healthcare: Benefits and Barriers”.
<http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxy119/pub/RFID-TA-2010-Wen-final.pdf>
▪
Yun Kyung Jung et al. RFID and Privacy. Strategic Computing and Communications Technology, Fall 2005.