Because it Takes More Than Courage to Beat Cancer

This week in Boston is an important one.  On Thursday, Aug. 19 and Friday, Aug. 20, local sports radio network WEEI and the New England Sports Network (NESN) are teaming up to host the 9th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon.

The tradition began in 2002 when WEEI teamed up with the Boston Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund to broadcast an 18-hour radiothon to help fight cancer in children and adults.  This first event raised $325,000 in one day.  In 2003, NESN joined and the 2^nd annual event raised more than $1 million. Over the past eight years, this event has raised more than $21 million for research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  As in the past, this year’s 36-hour broadcast features interviews with Dana-Farber patients, doctors, researchers and nurses, and believe me, it makes for an emotional drive time.  The groups have a goal of raising $5 million during this week’s activities.

As covered in a recent ThingMagic whitepaper, hospitals have been early adopters of new technologies such as RFID to deliver the best patient care possible.  RFID helps hospitals answer the most fundamental questions of knowing who and where its patients and resources are.  With this data, hospitals can enhance a number of processes related to asset management, patient tracking and throughput, inventory control, patient-centric services, and infection control.

With RFID able to support such a wide range of healthcare applications, it is not surprise that several RFID-enabled innovations have emerged in the area of cancer treatment (see an earlier ThingMagic blog post detailing how The Disney Family Cancer Center has deployed an RFID-enabled system that enhances patient treatment experiences).  In a similar effort to create a better treatment experience for cancer patients, ThingMagic partner XECAN offers an RFID oncology solution deigned to improve the operational efficiency of hospitals. XECAN’s RFID oncology solution enables automated patient queuing, patient chart and treatment plan opening, and accessory verification for treatment devices – delivering new efficiencies in radiation therapy.

With this solution, patients are greeted as soon as they walk into the clinic and their arrivals are automatically queued in the EMR scheduler with no need for bar-code scanning - creating a personalized experience and reducing wait times. Through this integration with the hospital's EMR system, as soon as patients enter a CT Sim or radiation vault, their personal treatment charts or treatment plans are opened.  Further, the XECAN oncology solution supports the tracking and management of treatment devices such as thermoplastic masks, headrests, breast-boards, belly-boards, vac-lok cushions, custom block, and compensator trays.  XECAN’s fixed and handheld RFID readers allow hospital staff to track where these devices are located in order to provide an efficient care experience.

Casting a broad net, the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon has only two criteria for taking donations - you can donate if you know someone who has battled cancer.  Or, you can donate if you don’t know anyone who has battled cancer.  From the fundraising power of the talking heads on radio and TV to the innovations delivered by today’s technology experts, we’re moving a few steps closer to prevent, treat, and cure cancer.

What other types of patient-centric applications would you like to see made possible? Respond with your ideas here.

What if Your Goods Could Talk?

As introduced in posts earlier this week, RFID technology offers great potential to significantly reduce costs while improving materials management and inventory operations throughout hospitals and other healthcare facilities.  RFID-based solutions help hospitals answer the most fundamental questions of knowing who and where its patients and resources are.  With this data, hospitals can enhance a number of processes related to asset management, patient tracking and throughput, inventory control, and patient-centric services.

Passive RFID-based inventory control solutions provide real-time data on inventory availability and use as items move from storage to individual departments and ultimately to the clinicians and patients who use them.  This accurate management of the hospital supply chain – from scheduling through discharge – is essential to improving workflow and charge capture.  

Helping to drive these efficiencies into the healthcare market, Goods That Talk (GTT), located in southern Brazil has developed innovative UHF RFID-based solutions, serving the entire hospital service chain including hospitals, clinical offices, distributors and manufacturers.  GTT is partnered with ACURA RFID Systems, a longstanding ThingMagic partner focused on developing and distributing RFID tags and readers to markets such as healthcare, mining, logistics, transportation, industrial automation, chemical, security, and several others.

Included under the umbrella of GTT’s GTmed solutions, Gt Cabinets integrate ThingMagic UHF RFID readers to improve the management of implantable medical devices and drugs needed during surgical procedures.

The time between consumption and invoicing and the rigorous need for safety and coordination of the stock of these items makes product monitoring difficult.  By tagging each of these items with RFID-EPC Gen 2 tags and reading the inventory in real-time with UHF RFID readers integrated into the cabinets, hospitals can automate the management of intermediary stocks, minimize safety stock holdings, and create a proactive system of replenishment that streamlines the entire supply chain.

In an era where healthcare costs are increasing at the same time that hospital profitability is decreasing, hospital administrators are challenged with finding new ways to run their organizations more efficiently.  These solutions are just a few examples of how low cost, easy to deploy Passive UHF RFID provide hospitals with an economical way to measure a large number of parameters in hospital settings, streamline workflows and introduce efficiencies and cost savings across the entire healthcare supply chain.

What uses of RFID in healthcare do you find most beneficial?  What technology trends are you seeing that address the cost savings and efficiency needs of hospital administrators?  What if your goods could “talk” to you? 

“It’s Like Angels Singing”

Who likes going to the doctor’s office or hospital?  We all have an image formed from years of wasting time in waiting rooms reading 3-year-old magazines, then being in colorless treatment rooms that are either too cold or too hot.  That only adds to the anxiety that already exists from being there in the first place.

Imagine if instead you looked forward to going to the hospital because it helps you relax.  Sound crazy?

“I walked through these doors and I swear it was like angels singing. I’m not a really spiritual person, but this is so beautiful the way it puts you at ease by diverting your mind from your treatment and using nature to help you relax.” These are the actual words of a patient being treated at The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center in Burbank, California.

In Tuesday’s post, we introduced the concept of patient-centric applications that deliver a valuable and unique user experience in ways that could not be done economically or aesthetically without RFID. Point-of-care solutions and services, automated pharmaceutical receipt & distribution and automated admissions, discharge and transfer; all may sound fairly routine on the surface. What is most important, however, is the patient experience.  Consider a cancer patient whose treatment experience is enhanced because the environment (temperature, lighting, music, etc) changes to their liking by simply walking through the hospital door. Futuristic? Nope. It’s already happening.

With Passive RFID, everything happens behind the scenes so it’s not disruptive to patients and it doesn’t create extra steps for physicians and hospital administrators. In fact it does just the opposite by streamlining very complex workflows. The technology becomes invisible and the experience it makes possible has a positive impact on each patient’s state of mind as they undergo an emotionally and physically draining experience. It can put them on a faster road to recovery. 

That may sound too good to be true. So, how does it work?

At The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center, RFID-enabled identification badges worn by patients hold information on his or her favorite colors, music and vacation spots, as well as the items critical to fostering a smooth process like billing, pharmaceutical, scheduling, and doctor information. Once a patient walks through a door, the RFID reader identifies the patient and alerts a concierge who immediately greets them and directs them to their next appointment. That’s the way it should be. Patients in these serious medical situations shouldn’t have to question whether they are in the right room, wait unnecessarily for prescription medications or dispute a billing mistake. 

And there is an added bonus to implementing Passive RFID in healthcare settings. It can streamline communications between clinicians, patients and administrators. Doctors can greet people immediately upon arrival because patient names are sent to their VoIP phones when they enter the facility. And no more sitting in stark waiting rooms wondering when it’ll be their turn. Patients can be located via their ID badges, so they can walk around the facility or go outside while they wait.

View Images of The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center’s deployment of RFID technology used to enhance patient experiences and increase efficiencies published by InformationWeek.

What other types of patient-centric applications would you like to see made possible? It may not be as far off as you think. Please respond with your ideas here. 

Patient-Centric Applications That Are Changing the Healthcare Landscape

“Today, for as little as 8 cents per tag in quantities of 5 million units, one can obtain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that need no batteries and can report their unique identity to a reader 50 feet away. What does this mean? Simply put, batteryless (also called passive) tags enable the rapid and precise measurement of almost every operation in the healthcare setting - from counting and verifying the number of items in each surgical tray to understanding the calculus of human behavior in hygiene compliance. Think about this for a moment. I’ll wait.”

The paragraph above is an excerpt from a new whitepaper published by ThingMagic, exploring the numerous benefits of deploying Passive RFID in healthcare environments. Download the paper here.

Simply put, Passive RFID is the most economical way to measure a large number of parameters in healthcare settings. For example, Passive RFID can be implemented as fixed/finished readers and embedded into mobile and stationary devices to perform a variety of functions including operating room loss prevention, surgical tray and instrument track-and-trace, pharmaceutical control, document management, patient tracking/throughput, infection control, inventory control and even inventory management in ambulances.

The extreme deployment and integration flexibility of Passive RFID is complemented by the many different types of low cost Passive RFID tags that can be affixed to, or integrated into everything from consumable inventory, to handheld surgical tools, metals, liquids, patient wristbands, photo ID badges and many other items. 

Given today’s economic environment, this unmatched number of low cost, easy to deploy reader and tag combinations allows hospitals to select a single or a small number of critical areas to deploy a Passive RFID solution – based on immediate need - then expand to additional departments or add complementary components such as an RTLS or other Active RFID platforms as more resources and budget become available.

Further, the ability to embed Passive RFID into mobile and stationary devices allows hospitals to benefit from patient-centric applications that would otherwise not be possible, such as point-of-care solutions and services, automated pharmaceutical receipt & distribution, and automated admissions, discharge and transfer.

An example of this approach is in motion at The Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center. This installation has proved highly successful, avoiding the loss of many expensive surgical items like a $19,000 electronic neo-probe. In its next phase, Greenville Hospital will deploy Passive RFID readers throughout its main facility to track nearly 5,000 pieces of mobile medical equipment. Download the case study.

What are some other interesting RFID deployments in healthcare? What will be the next driver for healthcare organizations to invest in Passive RFID? We want to hear what you think. Please leave your comment here. 

Providing several real-world examples of RFID-enabled business practices and the power of RFID, sensors and other locationing technologies, Amy Rogers Nazarov has written an article titled "The Internet of Things" for Internet Evolution - a CMP Technology publication and sister site of InformationWeek.  This article describes the many benefits provided by RFID across a variety of applications, along with several realistic challenges and cautions regarding issues such as privacy and data collection. 

ThingMagic is proud to have several customer deployments cited in this article: Tomorrow's Mother (now TM Apparel) is using RFID to improve visibility into its supply chain, Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center has deployed both active and UHF passive RFID for patient and high-value asset tracking, and Ford Motor Company's work with ThingMagic and tool maker DeWALT to develop Tool Link - an RFID-enabled tool tracking solution available to the consumer market today.

A key thread throughout this article is the importance of data sharing and intelligence generation.  Each RFID deployment has its own network requirements and information sharing opportunities, making it critical for users to identify the business process improvements they are targeting.  Managing an inventory of maternity clothing, prepping patients for surgery and locating a missing tool may seem very different on the surface, but applying RFID to each of these activities can result in significant productivity benefits if approached with the right planning and thoughtful decisions on how to best leverage the resulting data.

This article has also been published as a special 16-page handbook insert in the print issue of InformationWeek.  Case studies on the ThingMagic customers referenced in the article are available on our Case Studies web page.