Explosive growth in healthcare RFID

Friday 11th July 2008

RFID healthcare investments by larger organisations are experiencing explosive growth, according to market intelligence firm Spyglass Consulting Group following a comprehensive RFID end-user market study.

The adoption and investment in RFID solutions primarily to track high-value mobile assets, patients and staff members represents a 204% increase from Spyglass’s 2005 RFID study.

“RFID investments are growing exponentially as healthcare organisations develop a better understanding of the technology and how it can be used to solve real problems within their facility,” said Gregg Malkary, Managing Director of Spyglass Consulting Group.

"RFID solutions are being deployed to enhance patient safety, increase operational efficiency and optimise
business workflow processes.

"Larger organisations are more likely to make RFID investments than smaller hospitals because they have a larger physical footprint making it more difficult to track things."

Among the highlights of the Trends In RFID 2008 Report:

• RFID focused on departmental applications - Department heads and business-line managers are making investments in RFID to solve specific business problems. Hospital administrators are reluctant to embrace RFID solutions for enterprise-wide deployment until the clinical, financial and operational efficacy of these solutions can be demonstrated to provide value for the entire organisation;
• RFID solutions for tracking high-value mobile assets, patients and medical staff provides healthcare organisations with a compelling value proposition to increase operational efficiency, optimise patient flow interactions and streamline workflow processes. These solutions automate manual paper-based workflow processes where few alternative IT solutions exist today;
• Passive RFID solutions are emerging for niche applications within specific hospital departments for inventory management, patient identification and quality assurance applications.

The complete market study Healthcare Without Bounds: Trends In RFID 2008, is available for US $2495 from Spyglass Consulting Group.

Spyglass

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