Patient ID wristbands to be in hospitals throughout England, Wales

“Hospitals throughout England and Wales will soon be using patient identification wristbands to improve patient safety.
The National Health Service Supply Chain (NHSSC) has signed a multi-year contract with Bristol-based P3 Medical Ltd., to provide wristbands to the NHS hospital. Under the contract, P3 will distribute positive patient identification wristbands from Precision Dynamics Corporation, a global provider of identification wristbands and advanced RFID and bar code solutions.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healtcare IT News Europe, 15 August 2008

Security in Medical Devices, implications

“There are more and more examples of how standard hacking techniques apply in healthcare, with serious consequences. Recent issues include RFID hacking and interference issues.
Recently, a talk at BlackHat regarding hacking medical devices, including pacemakers, has begun appearing in popular blogs.
What is most dangerous about this is not actually the hack itself, but the fact that the hacks could become widespread. Think about it; there is no real benefit to a hacker to simply kill a person. It is a serious crime and unless there is something to gain by doing it, it is unlikely to generate new interest with blackhat hackers.”
Article
Fred Trotter, 9 August 2008

HIMSS Analytics data shows small EMR advance, up-and-coming

“The analytics division of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has released figures on the budgets and technology adoption of U.S. hospitals, showing slightly increasing advancement of electronic medical record (EMR) capabilities and other technology trends.”
Article
Jason Stitt, WTN News, 30 July 2008

Public views of mobile medical devices and services: A US national survey of consumer sentiments towards RFID healthcare technology

“A 2007 national public opinion survey of 1404 Americans revealed variations in sentiments concerning the desirability of several mobile healthcare technologies based on RFID. The survey appears to be the first reasonably national public opinion survey of US adults concerning their attitudes towards mobile healthcare technology. The survey revealed high levels of interest in emergency intervention services, but much less so in health information and monitoring services. Interest in RFID personal medical technology was positively associated with high levels of trust in others and social support. At the same time, a small minority were negatively disposed towards such applications. In those cases, the negative sentiment appears heightened when the mobile healthcare application is offered in a modality attached to the body as opposed to a somewhat more physically remote option, i.e., attached to one’s cell phone.”
Abstract
James E. Katz and Ronald E. Rice, International Journal of Medical Informatics, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 10 July 2008, doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2008.06.001

NHS hospitals adopting barcode and RFID technology to improve patient safety

“A project promoting the use of technology to improve safety in patient identification and tracking, medicines and surgical instruments is gaining success in hospitals across England.
The Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) project has now reached 110 hospitals nationwide. AIDC is being managed by NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH) with identification-standards organisation GS1UK in conjunction with the National Patient Safety Agency and NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency.”
Article
British Journal of Healthcare Computing & Information Management, 10 July 2008

Large hospitals, IDNs drive use of RFID in healthcare settings

“The market for or radio frequency identification (RFID) in healthcare is booming, according to a new report from the Spyglass Consulting Group.
The adoption and investment in RFID solutions - primarily to track high-value mobile assets, patients and staff members - represents a 204 percent increase from Spyglass’ 2005 RFID study, said Gregg Malkary, Spyglass’ managing director.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 8 July 2008

Israeli medical centre to roll out active RFID

“European RFID specialist Wavetrend Technologies has signed a deal with the newly built Ashdod Medical Centre in Southern Israel, to install active RFID ports across the building to monitor movements of patients and assets.
Working in partnership with Isreali system integration company, Ardan Control Tech, Wavetrend will install an infrastructure of active RFID for asset and personnel tracking software.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 4 July 2008

JAMA study on RFID hazards draws vendor response

“Technology vendors are responding to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that raises the potential danger of using radio frequency identification in hospitals.
The study, conducted in May 2006 at the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, concluded that in a controlled non-clinical setting, RFID induced potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices due to electromagnetic interference.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 30 June 2008

Study: RFID Tags Can Mess Up Medical Devices

“Radio-frequency identification — a system of using tiny tags to track all sorts of products — could be a smart way for hospitals to keep tabs on everything from surgical sponges to patient beds. Indeed, some hospitals have already started adopting the technology.
Article
Jacob Goldstein, WSJ Health Blog, 24 June 2008

Electromagnetic Interference From Radio Frequency Identification Inducing Potentially Hazardous Incidents in Critical Care Medical Equipment

“Context: Health care applications of autoidentification technologies, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), have been proposed to improve patient safety and also the tracking and tracing of medical equipment. However, electromagnetic interference (EMI) by RFID on medical devices has never been reported.
Objective: To assess and classify incidents of EMI by RFID on critical care equipment.
Design and Setting: Without a patient being connected, EMI by 2 RFID systems (active 125 kHz and passive 868 MHz) was assessed under controlled conditions during May 2006, in the proximity of 41 medical devices (in 17 categories, 22 different manufacturers) at the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Assessment took place according to an international test protocol. Incidents of EMI were classified according to a critical care adverse events scale as hazardous, significant, or light.
Results: In 123 EMI tests (3 per medical device), RFID induced 34 EMI incidents: 22 were classified as hazardous, 2 as significant, and 10 as light. The passive 868-MHz RFID signal induced a higher number of incidents (26 incidents in 41 EMI tests; 63%) compared with the active 125-kHz RFID signal (8 incidents in 41 EMI tests; 20%); difference 44% (95% confidence interval, 27%-53%; P < .001). The passive 868-MHz RFID signal induced EMI in 26 medical devices, including 8 that were also affected by the active 125-kHz RFID signal (26 in 41 devices; 63%). The median distance between the RFID reader and the medical device in all EMI incidents was 30 cm (range, 0.1-600 cm).
Conclusions: In a controlled nonclinical setting, RFID induced potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices. Implementation of RFID in the critical care environment should require on-site EMI tests and updates of international standards.
Abstract
Remko van der Togt; Erik Jan van Lieshout; Reinout Hensbroek; E. Beinat; J. M. Binnekade; P. J. M. Bakker, AMA 2008;299(24):2884-2890

Access To Electronic Medical Records Significantly Increases Efficiency Of Emergency Care

“A new study led by Paul Sierzenski, MD, RDMS, of Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington, DE, discusses the benefits gained from providing health care workers with immediate access to patient medical records during a mass casualty incident.”
Article
ScienceDaily, 31 May 2008

Electronic Tags Locate Patients, Pharmaceuticals In British Hospital

“Some of the UK’s leading experts in location technologies recently confirmed that applications such as RFID in hospitals are already improving the efficiency and quality of patient care. But they also warn that compatibility problems between hardware and software applications, and a lack of joined up thinking from technology companies mean that the NHS is not benefiting as much as it could.”
Article
Science Daily, 7 May 2008

New Standard to Aid ID Processes

“The American National Standards Institute has approved the first part of new data standards to assist in positively identifying patients, drugs, devices and other processes in care delivery using bar code, radio frequency identification and two-dimensional symbol technologies.”
Article
Health Data Management, 23 April 2008

Calif. plan to track medicine hits snag

“The nation’s first law that requires high-tech tracking devices to help thwart prescription-drug counterfeiters is facing one more hurdle as drug companies, wholesalers and pharmacies push for a two-year delay.”
Article
Julie Appleby, USA Today, 25 March 2008

Pharma RFID market expected to hit $1 trillion by 2020

“The market for Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, applications in pharmaceuticals is conservatively estimated to reach $600 million by 2012 with a compound annual growth rate of 60 percent, according to a new market research study.
One quarter of the major pharmaceutical companies are expected to implement large-scale RFID projects to reduce costs, improve inventory control, track clinical trials and manage samples, claim the authors of “RFID in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing,” a study by the market research firm Kalorama Information.”
Article
Richard Pizzi, Healthcare IT News, 5 March 2008

Leadership, Culture and Medication Safety

“When hospital CIOs and vendor executives gathered recently to discuss medication safety technology, the importance of culture change and executive sponsorship dominated the conversation. As with other technology implementations, winning over end users and senior leaders should start long before an IT staff member lays a finger on a clinician’s computer.”
Article
Jane Jeffries, HHNMostWired, 13 February 2008

Making the Clinical Process Safe and Efficient Using RFID in Healthcare

“Using RFID the Fondazione Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (the Italian National Cancer Institute) in Milan can now achieve a greater capacity for controlling and monitoring the transfusion system, with the aim of enhancing safety, transparency and quality. RFID tags are sticked on blood bags and patient wristbands. Staff is provided with RFID identification cards and PDAs (with an application developed by the project team) and thus enabled to register patients at their arrival, verify the patient-blood match and recognise at any time patients and transfusional units. Each event is automatically traced by the system and sent to the Transfusion Centre, providing an essential informative feedback which was not available before.”
Article
eHealth Europe, 12 February 2008

Battery-based RFID poised as the next step in the evolution of RFID solutions

“A partnership between GE Healthcare and CenTrak, Inc., a tracking solutions provider based in Newtown, Pa., has led to the development of a predominantly battery-operated radio frequency ID tracking system.
The result of the partnership is the new hybrid DualTrak product, operating on both CenTrak’s GEN2 infrared technology and 900 megahertz radio frequency and employing CenTrak’s real-time location system, which claims to be the only predominantly battery-powered RTLS system with room-level accuracy in the world.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 24 January 2008

RFID conference speaker outlines top five priorities for hospital implementations

“Radio frequency identification is a hot topic in healthcare, and Awarepoint CEO Jason Howe aims to provide hospitals with the criteria they need for choosing a system during a panel discussion later this month at the RFID in Health Care Conference.
In the 2006 HIMSS Leadership Survey, 28.9 percent of healthcare executives indicated implementing RFID technology for patient/asset tracking is among their top five priorities.
By 2007, the percentage increased to 41.6 percent.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 18 January 2008

“Hospital information systems are not indispensable”

“Traditional telecommunication companies are heavily involved in European e-health- markets. In the UK BT is a key supplier behind the multi-billion English NHS IT programme, and T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom’s IT and business networking division, is equally committed.
Hubert Haag, head of the international healthcare business at T-Systems, told E-Health Europe that with 12,000 European healthcare customers T-Systems is a leading player when it comes to e-health solutions in Europe.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 8 January 2008

RFID Moves Beyond Assets

“Columbus (Ind.) Regional Hospital executives wanted to get the most bang for the buck from their new nurse call system.
So when they discovered that the technology, from Rauland-Borg Corp., Skokie, Ill., can use radio frequency identification technology to track clinicians to enable them to better communicate with each other, they came up with some other ideas for how RFID could help improve workflow and patient care.”
Article
Health Data Management, 1 January 2008

A Chip in My Shoulder

“I’m often asked about the RFID chip containing my medical records which is implanted in my right arm.
As a physician and chief information officer, I felt qualified to evaluate the medical, legal, moral, and privacy aspects of the device.”
Article
John Halamka, Life as a Healthcare CIO, 18 December 2007

Use of RFID Implants Low, Yet Concerns Still Flourish

“Implantable radio frequency identification chips, an innovative way to transport personal health records, can expedite physician access to clinical data in emergencies. Providers are able to scan the RFID devices, gain access to a secure database of patients’ electronic health records and adjust treatments accordingly. But RFID chips are still in the infancy of their development, so the benefits of speed and up-to-date patient information come with a number of drawbacks, particularly in terms of patient safety and privacy.”
Article
Zach Brennan, iHealthBeat, 18 December 2007

Investing in the Right Technologies for Health-IT

“If acquiring new health-IT technology is on your blueprint for the New Year, the critical factors for success are less about acquisition decisions than implementation, says Molly Coye, founder and CEO of the Health Technology Center (HealthTech), a non-profit education and research organization. HealthTech provides technology forecasts and decision-making tools for nearly 25 percent of the nation’s hospitals, as well as nonprofit health plans and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. As a member of the Institute of Medicine, Coye co-authored major reports such as “Crossing the Quality Chasm” and is on the board of trustees of the American Hospital Association and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), among other credentials. She serves on Google Health’s advisory board.”
Article
Cindy Atoji, Digital Healthcare & Productivity, 18 December 2007

Glucose Chip Plans to be Unveiled

“Delray Beach, Fla.-based VeriChip Corp. will unveil plans next week for a forthcoming implantable radio frequency identification chip that can measure glucose levels in the human body.”
Article
Health Data Management, 28 November 2008

Providers team-up on wireless-skin patch for reducing medical errors

“A wireless technology provider and healthcare products manufacturer are teaming up to create a wireless skin patch that aims at reducing medical errors.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 26 November 2007

Risiko oder Lebensretter?

The German Magazine Spiegel on risks and benefits of mobiel and RFID technology in hospitals.

Article
Sascha Koesch, Fee Magdanz, Robert Stadler, der Speigel, 11 November 2007

Mobile technology computing platform for Abu Dhabi hospitals

“InfoLogix, Inc., a technology provider of enterprise mobile solutions for the healthcare and commercial industries, announced that it had been chosen by the General Authority for Health Services, in partnership with ITQAN, a major systems integrator for businesses in the United Arab Emirates, to provide a mobile technology computing platform in Abu Dhabi.”
Article
Al Bawaba, 9 October 2007

Carolinas HealthCare Selects Ekahau for one of Nation’s Largest Healthcare System RTLS Deployments

“Ekahau Inc., a leading provider of Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced that it has been selected as the RTLS vendor of choice for Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS), the third largest public healthcare system in the United States. CHS is using the Ekahau RTLS solution for a centrally deployed asset tracking application that will work across its acute care facilities.”
Article
Ekahau, 9 October  2007

RFID track dementia patients in Luxembourg

“Patients suffering from dementia in a Luxembourg hospital are now being tagged with RFID solutions from AeroScout to ensure they remain safe within hospital grounds and are in close range of nurses and caregivers.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 9 October 2007