Healthcare has been very much on everyone’s mind during this past year and a half of pandemic health concerns. With hospital capacity stretched to the max, hospital managers are eager to find ways to minimize costly equipment and medication losses.
One hospital in Michigan discovered that small but valuable equipment items were being mixed with medical waste, and thrown out in the trash. Usable medical surplus – the result of over-ordering due to inventory uncertainties – is being dumped into landfills every day, according to a report by the National Institutes of Health.
On the pharmaceutical front, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) requires tracking of certain drugs throughout the supply chain, from manufacturer to end user. Protenus reports 18.7 million prescription pills lost from hospitals in the first half of 2018.
Good inventory management is, of course, the way to avoid such equipment and medication losses, and the compliance risks that come with such losses. But hand-counting beds and pills is labor intensive. It takes medical personnel away from their primary mission of healthcare delivery.
RFID solves the inventory problem and the labor problem simultaneously.
The Michigan hospital instituted a multi-year program to add RFID tags to its 12,000 pieces of medical equipment. Now it tracks equipment from deployment for patient usage, to “soiled” rooms for used equipment, through cleaning, and back to readiness for the next patient. The hospital saved an estimated $4,300 almost immediately by retrieving equipment accidentally headed for the trash. And hospital staff is not wasting valuable time searching for missing equipment.
Hospital pharmacies, too, will benefit from RFID implementation. The FDA has instituted a pilot program, Kit Check, including several major medical centers and drug companies. Kit Check tests tracking and system interoperability through the supply chain, starting with the medication manufacturer. RFID readers monitor the movement of medications in and out of the pharmacy. Medication errors are reduced, and pharmacists can easily identify returns and recalls. And the time-consuming manual counts are completely eliminated.
Healthcare RFID is strongly recommended by the experts in Forbes Magazine. With improved equipment and pharmaceutical inventory management, hospitals can get a handle on their costs, pass the savings on to patients, and still improve their profits.
Photo © Karanov images / AdobeStock
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