Spyglass Consulting finds Weak ROI for Passive RFID Solutions in Healthcare.

Fewer Than 23 Percent of RFID Solutions Deployed By Healthcare Organizations Are Using Passive RFID Solutions

MENLO PARK, CA, August, 2005. Spyglass Consulting Group, a market intelligence firm and consultancy, today announced the results of a comprehensive market study focused on the current state of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) adoption by healthcare organizations (HCOs) across the United States. Spyglass interviewed more than 100 healthcare organization professionals working in clinical engineering, materials management, pharmacy and medical/nursing informatics to better understand how RFID solutions could be used for positive patient identification, accurate mobile asset and patient tracking, and supply chain inventory management to help increase operational efficiency and improve the quality of patient care delivery.

Spyglass found fewer than 23 percent of RFID solutions deployed by healthcare organizations were using passive RFID technology. HCOs interviewed found it difficult to identify a strong business case to justify an investment in passive RFID citing lack of industry-wide standards, cheaper alternative solutions based on bar coding, and a lack of government or regulatory mandates.

RFID has Broad Applicability across Healthcare Industry

RFID is a disruptive technology that has broad applicability across the healthcare industry. Healthcare organizations interviewed are deploying RFID solutions to automate inefficient manual processes to positively identify patients, accurately track mobile assets and patients, and optimize supply chain inventory management and logistics.

Over the past few years, RFID has generated a significant amount of excitement and hype driven by initiatives and mandates by Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, healthcare organizations are finding it difficult to leverage these experiences because the needs/requirements and market dynamics of the healthcare industry are significantly different than the retail and government sectors.

Healthcare Organizations are Investing in RFID Today

Healthcare organizations interviewed are investing in RFID solutions today to better understand the viability of the technology and to figure out how to leverage RFID to solve real problems within their organizations.

Active Solutions are Propelling Growth of RFID In Healthcare

Healthcare organizations interviewed are focusing their investments on active RFID solutions for tracking assets, patients and medical staff. With active RFID solutions, HCOs are achieving compelling ROIs to help increase operational efficiency and improve the quality of patient care delivery.

RFID Solutions Not Ready For Large-Scale Deployments

Healthcare organizations interviewed believe current generation RFID solutions are not ready for large-scale, enterprise-wide deployments due to concerns about network infrastructure, network scalability, application availability, and systems integration complexities.

About Spyglass Consulting Group

The Spyglass Consulting Group is a market intelligence firm and consultancy focused on the current and future potential of mobile computing and wireless technologies within the healthcare industry. Spyglass offers products and services in customer & market intelligence, strategic partnership development, product marketing and investment due diligence.

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