There’s unlocked value in every healthcare supply chain. It’s inevitable. But bold solutions like RFID-technology are on the rise – marrying automated processes with comprehensive data and sophisticated analytics, displacing manual and redundant processes, and improving efficiency. Together, these advancements are empowering hospitals to make deeply informed decisions.
RFID's role in the continuum of care
While great strides in technology have improved efficiencies, most hospital supply chains are becoming more complex and encounter immense waste. This is where RFID technology, specifically, can help. Barcoding may work well for inexpensive products, but the physical effort required to scan each individual item along with the associated error prone processes can hold back efficiency gains on a larger scale for high value medical devices. RFID, on the other hand, can capture far more data than barcodes. The extensive automation and data capture that comes with RFID allows much greater value.
So as the continuum of care expands, hospitals and IDNs must also expand the scope of their technology and data.
The efficiency and savings gains from a supply chain enabled by advanced, connective technology promises to free-up resources for improving patient satisfaction and bedside service. Additionally, because these connected technologies are often cloud-based, they provide the opportunity to aggregate data. Think about benchmarking — not just across individual IDNs, but across multiple IDNs and any geography. This means that providers can compare their own metrics — inventory turns, cost per procedure, and etc. — with metrics from comparable facilities while keeping each facility’s specific data and identity private.
6 Benefits of RFID Technology
RFID transforms the supply chain into a strategic asset through:
- Predictive waste modeling and control
- End-to-end information connected and enabled supply chain
- Standardized processes across growing provider networks
- Enablement of Center of Excellence or Centralized Governance models
- Understanding and managing “true” cost per case, so providers can receive fair reimbursement for the quality of care provided
- Reduction of variability in how care is provided, across the network, improving consistency and helping to reduce unnecessary costs
Implementing RFID Technology
In an industry with competing priorities, gaining buy-in to invest in technology like RFID can be a challenge, so it’s essential to consider scalability and future-proofing at the outset. If you’re considering investing in RFID technology, think about the power it has to help along three dimensions of scalability:
1. Across an IDN, from department to full IDN
Technology is becoming increasingly integrated into the healthcare ecosystem. As IDNs continue to expand and acquire more sites across the continuum of care, connected technologies are also expanding their scope.
2. Across the supply chain, from manufacturer to patient
RFID systems can connect the manufacturers to hospitals, which allows for end-to-end supply-chain visibility that goes from the supplier all the way to the patient, through all the steps in between.
3. Across the diversity of high value products
Supply chain technologies are no longer just being implemented in siloed departmental areas for certain product categories. They’re being woven into the frameworks of all procedural areas requiring the use of high-value products including the Operating Room. RFID-enabled technology can help clinicians effectively store, track utilization and automatically replenish products more efficiently, with minimal need for human intervention.
To learn more about RFID technology and how to drive successful collaboration between clinicians and materials management, register here for this upcoming webinar.