The Global Market for RFID in Healthcare

RFID offers various solutions for the main segments of the healthcare industry—hospitals and nursing homes, pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies.

This Kalorama Information report, The Global Market for RFID in Healthcare , defines the market for RFID opportunities in the healthcare industry, focusing on five market segments:

• Pharmaceutical/Blood Product Distribution and Tracking
• Patient/Medical Staff Identification and Tracking
• Medical Asset Tracking and Locating
• Implantable Device RFID use
• Other areas (including medical documents and patient records)

Market estimates and forecasts are provided for each segment.

The main users of RFID technology in the healthcare sector include hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, nursing homes, and pharmacies. In the pharmaceuticals sector, RFID has been deployed by a number of companies, primarily for supply chain management applications. In most cases, the technology has been deployed for particular applications or a part of the business.

As part of its coverage of RFID in global healthcare the report discusses the following trends:

• Healthcare Establishment Statistics
• U.S. Healthcare Employment Projections
• Aging Population
• RFID Emissions may Affect Certain Medical Devices
• Active RFID and Wi-Fi Networks in Healthcare Applications
• Hospital Inefficiency
• Counterfeit Drugs
• Global Counterfeiting
• Benefits of Improving Product Management
• Regulatory Compliance to Control Drug Counterfeiting
• Electronic Pedigree and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
• Return on Investment (ROI)
• Improved Inventory Control
• Prescription Sample Control
• Health and Safety Concerns
• Smaller, Faster Chips
• Other Uses of RFID in Healthcare
• “Never Events” Reimbursement
• Signal Transmissions
• Existing Technologies
• Uniform Regulation and Standardization
• Public Privacy Concerns

This Kalorama Information market research report was constructed using both primary and secondary sources, including a search of trade and medical literature, annual reports, and interviews with executives at companies in the industry.

The following companies are profiled in the report:

• 3M
• Alien Technology
• Blue Vector
• Hewlett-Packard
• International Business Machines (IBM)
• Intermec, Inc.
• Motorola
• PositiveID (previously VeriChip)
• Solstice Medical
• SupplyScape
• Tagsys, Inc.
• Versus Technology
• Zebra Technologies

This Kalorama Information market research report was constructed using both primary and secondary sources, including a search of trade and medical literature, annual reports, and interviews with executives at companies in the industry.

New York, May 13, 2010— New RFID systems employed in healthcare settings may help them keep track of their staff’s compliance with policies, from which rooms they enter, to what inventory they use or even how often they wash their hands, according to healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information. Staff tracking measures are among the most novel, but not the only, applications for RFID in the healthcare sector. Kalorama estimates, in its new report The Global Market for RFID in Healthcare, that there will be nearly a billion-dollar market for RFID in healthcare.

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology involves the use of small ‘tag’ devices that emit radio signals which are read by RFID readers. The tag is read (or encoded) when it is in range of the reader. The information is managed by a computer system which allows users to interact with the data. Because they do not involve data entry and they enhance the very mobile healthcare industry, Kalorama has long foreseen the growth of RFID technologies in healthcare and estimates there will be a $960 million market this year for systems that help healthcare facilities function. The report indicates that hand washing compliance is one of the areas where RFID devices can help.

“Infection control is critical for healthcare systems as they try to reduce negative events, and RFID is one of the few technologies that can help,” said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information.

With nearly 2 million patients developing hospital-acquired infections annually, the report says that compliance is an important issue and will drive sales of such systems. With an RFID hand washing compliance system, when a staff member approaches the soap dispenser, the dispenser reads the RFID-encoded badge. It records who is at the station and when activity is taking place. Resurgent Medical and Versus Technology are among the vendors that make hand washing compliance systems. Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami is an example of a hospital that has implemented the system, and Kalorama believes that other healthcare entities will follow.

“The RFID system is brutally honest,” Carlson said. “If a hospital is not in compliance, the data will soon alert management. Management can then decide how to improve individual or unit behavior.”

The use of RFID for the purpose of staff tracking is in the early stages and it is not the only use for RFID technologies in the healthcare sector. Kalorama believes the bulk of RFID sales in healthcare will be in tracking patients for safety and billing purposes, inventory control and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Kalorama Information’s report The Global Market for RFID in Healthcare contains information on each aspect of RFID in healthcare, and a detailed analysis of the products and competitors active in the industry.

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