RFID Lowdown

RFID to the Rescue

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Another use for rugged RFID technology – in times of war and disasters, natural or manmade. Handheld readers from a collaboration between SkyeTek and ACC Systems will be put to good use – in the Tactical Medical Coordination System (TacMedCS), the wireless communication system that harnesses the power of RFID to gather real-time data during search and rescue operations. The system will help in the identification, location and tracking of both casualties and medical resources.

[via Using RFID]

SkyeTek's embedded RFID technology will power wirelessly connected RFID handhelds used to read information resident on RFID medical wristbands placed on casualties or refugees and electronic dog tags worn by personnel in the field.

Patient Care With RFID

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Hospitals and healthcare providers are leveraging the potential of RFID to add value to the services they offer their patients. Mayo Clinic, the non-profit organization, has tied up with provider 3M to manage and track tissue samples, from the time they are collected, till they reach the pathology labs. The pilot program, which employed a combination of tags, readers, software solutions and system-integration technologies, carried out at the facility’s endoscopy surgical suites proved a great success. The project is expected to enhance and improve the procedure of collection and analysis of patient tissue.

On then other side of the globe, in Taiwan, HP and the Precision Dynamics Corporation have partnered to set up a patient management system that is powered by RFID, at the Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH). The solution focuses on patient safety, verification, and identification in operation theaters, collection of data in real time, reduction of wrong-site and wrong-patient surgeries, automation of various manual functions, administration of the right medicine in the right dosage at the right time, and ensuring compliance with hospital policies for patient safety and operating procedures.

Gamma-Proof RFID Tags

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Item-level tags that serve a valuable function in special-purpose applications just took a step closer to reality, if claims by AdvantaPure are true. The company, which provides highly sterile products for the pharmaceutical, biomedical, food and cosmetic sectors, has come up with a tag that can tolerate the radiation from gamma rays that are used to sterilize products. GammaTag overrides RFID’s vulnerability to these rays, according to AdvantaPure’s CEO Ken Baker, allowing the process of sterilization without leading to a loss of data or the destruction of the tag itself. The process of decontamination is simplified since the tag permits gamma radiation for the entire unit. RFID Update reports:

The read-writable GammaTag is a high frequency (HF) tag with two kilobytes of storage and a read range of 50 millimeters. It can be used with all sorts of industrial containers and components, including sample and production bags, tanks, filters, manifolds, tubing and hose, storage vessels, and complete single-use systems.

RFID Lowdown - Sat Nov 25, 2006

New Airline Bagging Tagging Chip
Delta Airlines is testing a new RFID baggage tagging solution called BagChip from RFID Ltd. The system is expected to cut down on lost baggage which estimated at around 800,000 pieces yearly, costing US$100M annually. Each BagChip tag is about US$10. [Business Wire via Biz Yahoo]

Medline RFID For Surgical Sponges
Medline Industries is the latest company to offer an RFID system for tracking surgical sponges. Such sponges are used during operations and have a tendency to be left behind under the stress of some surgeries. Medline's system also works with surgical gauze and towels. [via RFID Journal]

South Korea Certifies ThingMagic
ThingMagic's Mercury4 RFID reader has been certified [RFID News] for use in South Korea, and is already being used for a number of applications including airline, high-security, and casinos. Mercury4 functions on EPC Gen 2 technology.

AmerisourceBergen Using IBM RFID Pharma System

IBM's Websphere middleware system is the base for Track and Trace for Pharma, a drug supply chain management package being used by AmerisourceBergen, amongst others. The pharmaceutical wholesaler scans RFID as cases of select drugs enter and exit the warehouse, in order to build a history of tagged the tagged drugs. Said Shay Reid, VP Integrated Solutions,

We're hoping to establish an electronic chain of custody for each individual unit of drug that is tagged.

The system, which is also using VeriSign software for transaction authentication, will be linked to similar systems used by five unnamed drug manufacturers. IBM sytem is also designed to help fight counterfeiting of drugs.

[sources: Computer World]

RFID Lowdown - Thur Nov 16, 2006

Show Me The... Uh... Passport
The new Irish ICAO-compliant contactless passports will be supplied [Contactless News] by the same company that makes the paper money for over 150 countries, De La Rue. The books will be 34 and 66 pages and contain a 72kb chip storing details about each citizen, as well as a digital copy of the passport photo. An anti-skimming and eavesdropping feature called BAC (Basic Access Control) is present, as is Active Authentication, to prevent data cloning.

Malaysian Livestock To Be Tagged
Malaysia's Veterinary Services Department has plans to tag all of the country's 2.5 million livestock animals by 2008. Tags would be attached to the ears of cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep and pigs. The objective is to ensure that only healthy animals are exported and sick animals quarantined. This program is similar to the NAIS initiative in the US.

Maxstream Extends ZigBee Range To 40 Miles
ZigBee, a low-cost, low-power, low-data rate wireless communications protocol, has had its range extended [EE Product Center] by up to 40 miles by modem supplier MaxStream through their XBee XTender bridge. The typical ZigBee range is 100-300 feet.

Pharmaceutical RFID Tech Not Ready?

If your company had a process with a 1% error rate, would you be satisfied? Not Cardinal Health, who conducted an RFID pilot study to tag, track and e-pedigree pharmaceuticals. For them, the desire is to be at a Six Sigma quality level because of the need for accurate e-pedigrees of drugs. Their conclusion was that while their pilot was encouraging [RFID Update],

the technology and industry are not ready for adoption.

Some of the issues that they feel need to be resolved includes global standards and privacy concerns.

Meanwhile, item-level tagging for pharmaceuticals is getting some innovation by packaging giant O-I in the form of embedded RFID inlays for packaging of the four common dosage forms (solids, gelcaps, powders, liquids). Their technology works with either HF or UHF tech.

Dec 1st, 2006, is the US FDA deadline for certain expensive and/or popular drugs to be e-pedigreed with RFID technology. This move is primarily to stop drug counterfeiting. While the industry backs the FDA, many companies are slow on the uptake.

RFID – Getting Under Diabetics’ Skin

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Diabetes is a disease that is not so much cured as controlled. The key is to combine a healthy lifestyle with a sensible diet and regular monitoring of blood sugar levels. If you have spent enough time around diabetics, you would have seen them pricking their forefingers to draw that drop of blood for testing purposes. I’ve heard it’s not painful, but for those who think it is, here is an alternative – a sensor that is implanted subcutaneously.

Developed by the Digital Angel Corporation, the “Embedded Bio-Sensor System” uses a syringe-implantable glucose-sensing RFID microchip that can transmit your blood sugar levels to a scanner that is waved over it.  Passive tags are used in the system, which means that the scanner powers the microchip and eliminates the need for a resident battery.

If you’re a diabetic and not averse to having an RFID chip beneath your skin, then get in touch with VeriChip, Angel’s sister concern which is responsible for the sensor’s marketing and distribution. The yet-to-be-christened device has been awarded a patent in the United States, but is patent-pending at the international level.

NAIS Animal Tagging Initiative Finds Texas Resistance

Spychips reports that the US initiative NAIS (National Animal Identification System), to tag and identify all livestock into a federal database, is running into resistance in the state of Texas. This despite the fact that RFID chips have been successfully used to roundup cattle stolen by rustlers. The general intent of NAIS is to track and control diseased food animals, including the ability to retrieve information about which farm an animal was born on. Once NAIS is in effect, all newborn, sick, dead, slaughtered, sold or transported livestock must be reported, or fines are levied (US$1,000 per day) by the USDA.

According to the Spychips article, two Texas counties have signed anti-NAIS resolutions. There is also resistance in the state of Indiana, amongst the Amish community, who feel that NAIS goes against their religious beliefs. Mandatory compliance of NAIS was already delayed from 2005 to 2007, due to mass protests. There are other livestock uses of RFID that do not involve NAIS, including monitoring the body temperature of cows.

MedicAlert To Use RFID Cards

MedicAlert is a non-profit service in North America where members with life-threatening allergies and other medical conditions wear a special bracelet or necklace engraved with identification. This allows paramedics to access information about the member, in case of an emergency situation. However, that access can take time, which could mean the difference between life and death for some people.

To reduce the access time, MedicAlert, with Siemens Business Services, will start issuing RFID-enabled cards to a select group of its members in the US. Medical information about each member will be stored on the radio frequency tag, which can be accessed by a handheld reader, thus reducing access time to almost nil. Once the patient has been taken to a hospital, more detailed patient information can be accessed from MedicAlert database. The initial phase was tested in late 2005, with another phase to follow. [via Webwire]

The healthcare industry is increasingly finding new applications for radio frequency technology. Some current applications include asset management, patient records managment, patient management. This is in addition to the use of RFID to pedigree pharmaceuticals in order to fight counterfeiting.

Purging Phony Pharmaceuticals

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry has far-reaching consequences that extend beyond the money aspect. Loss of life, undesirable side effects, violent allergic reactions – these are just a few repercussions. The FDA, realizing the positive aspects that RFID can contribute to purging this menace, has pushed RFID regulations into the pharmaceutical sector.

Now, Intelligentz Corporation is contributing its mite to eliminating counterfeit drugs by using an arsenal that includes its business method, RFID software, and technology. The company has devised a unique code that can be placed visibly on each pill to certify that it is the real thing.

A database generates a code (which includes an RFID tag) for the pill while the business method provides inventory tracking  throughout the supply chain. Codes are sent to drug manufacturers through the Internet, where they can be matched against the right bottles, cases, and pallets. The database updates itself as the pills travel through the supply chain.

The centralized database is secure and access in allowed only to authorized users.

Pharmaceutical RFID Strategies

With the FDA deadline looming near for US-based pharmaceutical companies to e-pedigree a select range of their products, a number of trials are already ongoing, despite the otherwise delayed implementation in the industry. Pfizer is one company that has a Viagra anti-counterfeiting pilot project running, which has resulted in over 2M bottles of Viagra being tagged.

Their strategy is interesting, using all of item-, case- and pallet-level RFID tags. However, they do not necessarily validate all item-level tags. They do, however, structure tagging in using a hierarchy, so that a particular item-level tag can be associated with its original case or pallet. They state that they do not include the NDC (National Drug Code) number on item-level tags for security reasons. Barcodes are included as backup. (They've had a tiny percentage of "dead" tags.) [via RFID Journal]

This code hierarchy allows for the tracking of indvidual bottles. So, if a bottle is sold somewhere, and its parent case/ pallet tag does not match the pharmacy a shipment was sent to, this can easily be determined.

As for what type of RFID is most suitable for the pharmaceutical industry, it's expected that they will eventually move to NF UHF (Near-Field Ultra High Frequency) via a hybrid path of HF-UHF first. That's according to Venture Development Corp, a market research firm. This is because UHF works better in liquids and metals than HF, reads faster, and encodes tags faster. There are still technical issues to be worked out before EPC Gen 2 tags are widely available at reasonable prices. But a report from late last year, by ABI Research, indicates that the cost of UHF tech will drop.

RFID + Pharmaceuticals: Pfizer Combats Fake Viagra

With the deadline fast approaching (Dec 1st) for US FDA compliance for some drugs to be e-pedigreed, pharmaceutical companies are already rolling out specific applications. Pfizer, for example, is using RFID to fight counterfeiting of Viagra [Tech News World]. Viagra - used to restore sexual potency in men - is probably one of the most popular drugs right now, and probably thus a common target of counterfeiting - at least if the dozens of junk emails I get regularly is any indication.

Wal-Mart is also expecting cases and pallets of drugs from certain providers to be tagged, which will likely drive the need for more RFID pharma usage - what with Wal-Mart being the all-powerful retailer that they are. But whether Wal-Mart is dictating usage or not, some experts feel that RFID is the only option for fighting counterfeiting - of drugs or pretty much any high-ticket luxury items. Pharmaceuticals, however, have been typically slow to implement radio frequency technology.

In the case of Pfizer, they are applying passive HF (High Frequency) RF tags to each bottle. Wholesalers and pharmacies receiving product can check authenticity using an RFID reader and an Internet connection. The product is held if its EPC (Electronic Product Code) does not match the expected code for the manufacturer. Since the bottles are expected to be sent back to Pfizer, I'm wondering who is paying for the shipping costs. In the Tech News World article (linked above), Pfizer is indicated as saying that other businesses in their supply chain just are not ready to be part of an e-pedigree system.

RFID-Enabled Gets-Sick Doll From Bandai

Bandai, the Japanese company that introducing incredibly popular pop culture toys such as Tamagotchi and Power Rangers now has an RFID-enabled doll [RFID Weblog], Naoru-kun. The doll speaks 150 phrases and "gets sick". When it does, kids are expected to administer any of three items that have embedded RFID tags/ chips: candy, medicine, and a syringe. Each tagged item creates a different response in the doll, which presumably has an RFID reader embedded.

As the RFID Weblog article points out, this sort of toy might foster caring attitudes in very young children. And of course, that's always a good thing. On the other hand, it's possible that children exposed to Naoru-kun may later feel that it's okay to implant RFID chips in people, particularly sick people or children.

RFID For Combating Counterfeiting

Drug counterfeiting is estimated to cost the pharmaceutical industry $30-35B yearly in the United States. (Counterfeiting in general is estimated at US$450B worldwide for all industries.) RFID is on the table as one of few ways to e-pedigree drugs in order to combat the counterfeiting trade. And now with rumblings of a new e-Pedigree act, the pharma industry has a way to fight the loss. (No idea yet how Wal-Mart's announcement to sell drugs at $4 bottle, I believe, will affect the industry. Or Wal-Mart.)

However, radio frequency technology can be used for the same purpose on other items as well. There are a number of anti-counterfeiting trials on using RFID tech. For example, RFID is used in a number of bricks-and-mortar casinos to combat not only counterfeiting of gaming and poker chips, but to prevent patrons from using one casino's chips at another. RF technology can also be used to validate event tickets, bus/ transit/ train passes and so on.

Revised US Pharma e-Pedigree Act?

The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) had at one time intended to have pharmaceutical companies apply pedigreeing technology on all drugs, primarily to combat counterfeiting. They backed off from that plan after it was evident that the industry was lagging behind in implementing a solution - RFID being the FDA's preferred method.

The result was that the FDA mandate the application of RFID to pedigree select drugs, particularly (but not exclusively) expensive drugs prone to counterfeiting by Dec 1st, 2006. Now, it seems, the FDA might be back-tracking on their reduced plan and going ahead with their rules of imposing pedigreeing technology on all drugs. Part of their intent is to combat Internet pharmacies.

Get more details at The Manufacturer or AIM Global. RFID Solutions Online has an article (free registration required) which discusses how RFID can be a powerful tool for the pharmaceutical industry.

RFID – The Life”blood” of Transfusion

There’s no doubting the fact that blood transfusions save lives, but the same procedure can threaten lives if mistakes are made in matching blood types and RH factors. RFID technology is stepping in to fill the gaping holes left by human errors, carelessness and inefficiencies that compromise the safety of blood transfusions.

A foolproof scenario has been set up at the Ospedale Maggiore hospital in Bologna, Italy, where patients are equipped with RFID-tagged wristbands. Each tag contains a unique alphanumeric code that can be compared with a similar RFID module located in the label stuck on blood unit packs.
The comparison is performed by an RFID reader, the Palmed, which has further built-in authentication features such as a fingerprint reader. A server designed by the software firm Tiomed using RFID technology from SkyeTek complements the reader in establishing a match.

Only a perfect match will release a wireless, electronic seal on the blood unit, following which the transfusion takes place. No room for errors in this procedure, that’s for sure.

VeriChip RFID implants for the chronically ill - Test begins

Are you a chronic heart patient or perhaps a diabetic? You now have the opportunity to decide on whether you want a radio frequency ID implanted into your arm. The implant will help the hospital read your EHR even though you are unconcious and alone in an emergency!

Well, it is possible nowadays and a hospital is looking for volunteers from their patients. The implant is free of cost and the chip itself will not contain the records, but the 16-digit number obtained by reading the chip with an RFID reader can be linked to the existing health records at the hospital.

Making a foray into this unchartered territory is the Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ and it's voulunteering patients. The patients being considered suffer from chronic conditions like heart disease, epilepsy, diabetes or are recent recipients of organs. They will have the RFID chips, the size of a grain of rice, implanted above their right elbow.

The RFID chips being used are from VeriChip. Hackensack University Medical Center and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey are asking patients to volunteer for a two-year program that will test "personal health record modules" inserted just beneath their skin. The passive chips will contain a 16-digit number that, when scanned at the medical center, will link them to their electronic patient record.

The electronic health record (EHR) that is linked to the 16-digit number in the tag will contain:

1. Family contact information 2. Recent lab test results 3. Pharmacy prescription information and 4. Medical information from the records of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (HBCBSNJ), the health insurer that is carrying out the trial.

Dr Richard Popiel, vice president and chief medical officer, HBCBSNJ, said: "This two-year collaboration with Hackensack University Medical Center, its physicians and VeriChip will provide cutting-edge technologies that will hopefully save lives and provide measure of comfort to our members with chronic conditions and to their families."

Great boost for RFID technology but there are sceptics and the general publc are not really warming up to the idea of implants except for a few RFID champions who put tags in their bodies. But, for the chronically ill, the implants could be a life saver!

RFID Market - Analysis & Forecasts

The RFID market will increase ten times to become a $26 billion business in 2016 forecasts an IdTechEx article. The global spend on RFID labels for pallets and cases alone - mainly for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies - will be around $0.09 billion this year and is expected to go up to 1.75 billion in 2017 provided the price collapse doesn’t go beyond 5 cents and there is world wide demand.

Item level tagging vs. pallet and cases tagging: Most RFID suppliers to the retail and consumer goods industry are losing money, particularly where pallets and cases are concerned. This often amounts to millions of dollars yearly and sometimes more. Item level tagging is proving to be more beneficial to consumer goods suppliers whereas pallet/case tagging does not. Retailing giants like Marks and Spencer in the UK, Boekhandels Groep in the Netherlands and Maruetsu in Japan have proved this. So, item level tagging is not only happening alongside or even before pallet/case tagging, it usually commands a higher price and sees most participants making satisfactory, sustainable returns.

By contrast, most suppliers to the healthcare and air industry sectors will be more likely to make money, providing secure and enduring support for their customers. Suppliers of the healthcare industry especially will be doing a lot of good and saving human life at the same time by using RFID to combat the counterfeit drugs problem. Think of RFID enabled packs of pills that prompt and record compliance with instructions and error-preventing RFID on hospitals instruments. The Air industry will also benefit largely using RFID as an anti-terrorism measure in airports.

Despite this, retail/CPG will probably dominate the RFID market by sales value in ten years' time but if you look at the growth in the market we can say that the value of Healthcare and Air Industry RFID is growing faster than the RFID industry overall.

Why RFID Implementation is Slow in the Pharma Industry

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recently reiterated that pharmaceutical companies should hurry up and use RFID to secure the drug supply chains. According to Information Week:

An FDA report this month, while calling those efforts encouraging, chastises drugmakers, wholesalers, and retailers for being slow to implement "e-pedigree" systems such as bar codes or RFID to prevent drug counterfeiting.

This is because the problem of counterfeit drugs has become so widespread around the world that it cannot be ignored any longer. Besides affecting the patients who consume these drugs, this problem also affects pharmaceutical companies.

FDA opens the door for RFID in pharma sector

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally taken a stance and has told pharmaceutical companies to be required to have electronic tags to track product from factory to pharmacy. This is after waiting for pharmaceutical companies to improve counterfeit drug screening.

What this means for the RFID industry is that this was the much needed impetus for the sector to grow. Sure enough more and more RFID technology firms are getting the much needed support form software giants and chip makers.

The problem with widespread use of RFID tags have always been the cost concerns it would bring about to make it not very feasible or cost effective a technology till date. This FDA ruling will be the door for this technology to get into every day life in quicker way.

Trailblazers in this technology: Only retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Brands Inc. have had the necessary sales volume to make RFID tagging profitable. Worldwide RFID spending totaled US$504 million in 2005, and is scheduled to grow to $751 million in 2006 and reach $3 billion by 2010, according to the analyst firm Gartner Inc

Counterfeiting having permeated everything at such an astonishing rate is taking the pharmaceutical sector into huge problems and there really seems to be no answer other than RFID tags. Tags attached to the medicines when read will give all the details of when it got into the market and so on and thereby a fake can be isolated at source.

Now that FDA has given the boost for RFID tags there are going to be more manufacturers with safer tags and eventually cheaper tags that will help the technology to get into all areas in a more cost effective manner.

Microsoft plans to launch its BizTalk Server 2006 R2 supply chain management product in the first half of 2007, enabling companies to integrate their enterprise software with RFID databases. Microsoft also said it would partner with RFID hardware makers like Alien Technology Corp., Intermec Inc. and Paxar Corp. All great news for RFID right?

Counterfeiters make RFID the only option for pharmaceutical, brands, luxury goods...

Counterfeiters are estimated to sell up to £10 billion worth of fake goods a year in Britain, from sportswear and cigarettes to perfume and medicines, DVDs to compact discs. The problem extends to a wide range of brands from cigarettes to foodstuffs, from Nike to Rolex watches almost any brand or product is cleverly counterfeited these days.

Its big business and luxury good are big targets with EU figures showing that China as the main origin of many fake goods — 54% of all fakes seized in 2004 while Taiwan comes in second. Read: "Trying to snub out the fakes", for more details on the counterfeiting world.

This is where RFID comes in especially for the Pharmaceutical industry - Pfizer Inc., in a move to thwart counterfeit Viagra declared that it has included special radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on all packages of its anti-impotence pill to verify the authenticity.

How does this work for Pfizer in India? The tiny tags are small computer chips that have been affixed to the underside of labels on each bottle of Viagra, as well as on cases and pallets of the drug. The tags send out a signal that pharmacists in the United States will be able to pick up on specially designed electronic scanners. The product code detected by the scanner is sent over the Internet to a secure Pfizer Web site to confirm its authenticity. Tracking and tracing is another story, as it would be required to have compatible technology at all the distribution centers in every country.

A new law will come to force in Florida from July 1 requiring pharmaceutical distributors to document who takes possession of prescription drugs as they travel from manufacturers to retail shelves should help to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the supply chain. Read more: here

This means in places like US it would be easy to find out where the counterfeit drug got into the market and that's going to be great to secure genuine drugs. Don't you agree?

FDA to Track Drug using RFID

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) believes that RFID technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. The FDA has decided to guide drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology. Drugs will have to be tracked each time they change hands from the factory to the pharmacy under the provisions of an old law to be enforced now. The FDA has long put off the enforcement of the provision because of the concerns raised by secondary wholesalers on the tracking requirements. CIO Today has published an article on the Same Topic.

The FDA believes that radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is the most promising way to track drugs as they move through the supply chain. However, the FDA said Friday it would hold off on requiring drug manufacturers and distributors to use the technology.

RFID Strategy in Pharmaceuticals

RFID technology has been successful in providing revenue-positive proposition for the RFID vendors and mandate-imposers. Most organizations have confirmed that they have achieved significant cost-saving due the use of RFID technology. This trend is clearly evident in the pharmaceutical industry. Major pharmaceutical manufacturers have announced large-scale pilot programs for item-level product tagging.

Pharmaceutical companies see potential benefits in boosting revenue by adopting item-level tagging. The pharmaceutical industry has taken a different approach towards RFID technology. It is believed that interesting developments in the marketplace may lead to a convergence in standards. Many manufacturers have already put RFID tags on medicine bottles. Such moves are viewed as attempts to stay ahead of pending US legislation to mandate item-level tagging in the pharmaceutical industry. Industry Week has an interesting article on the Same Topic.

Item-level tagging of pharmaceuticals involves some interesting technical problems for RFID technology. Many drugs are packaged in foil blister packs that both block and reflect radio frequency energy.

PDC Showcases Bar Code Solutions

With the need to offer enhanced services to hospitalized patients, the use of bar code systems in healthcare sector has becomes pertinent with upgraded version of bar code systems. Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC) , known for its development of automatic identification wristband systems for healthcare, recently showcased Bar Code Wristbands and peripheral products as part of its Bar Code System Solutions . The display took place at MUSE (MediTech Users Software Exchange) Conference from May 30 to June 1, in Orlando, Florida.

Patient identification in hospitals and healthcare centers is implemented by using bar code wristband systems calling for patient's safety and better rehabilitation. Yet, the concerns regarding hygiene remains to be answered as if how bar code wristband is safe.
PDC partnering with leading companies is offering comprehensive healthcare Bar Code Solutions. It incorporates media (wristbands & labels), hardware (printers & readers), and software (middleware & firmware). This also includes bedside patient verification, automated glucose testing, medication verification, specimen verification, blood cross-match verification, etc. according to the company this wristbands supposedly play a major role in the integration process. But "How" is what you deserve to know…
PDC zips up questionable mouths by giving technology due importance which can be seen through names like AMT DataSouth , Citizen Systems , Cognitive , Digi-Trax , Hewlett Packard  and Hand Held Products to take us to a comprehensive bar code solution.

Use of RFID set to grow in the health care industry

From Automobiles to Aviation and from Medical Industry to Shipping, the buzz word one gets to hear is – RFID.  With the advantages that RFID offers, it’s purely a matter of time before those small kinks viz. privacy issues and funding, gets ironed out and reaches a stage of wider scale acceptance.

The Future for RFID in Healthcare: The Healthcare Industry, primarily thanks to the new tagging of drugs for anti-counterfeiting and real time location of staff, patients and assets for safety, security and cost control, is likely to show a growth in the use of RFID. Growth is poised at a predicted 3% to 8% right across the globe stretching from USA and good part of Europe in the west to Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Singapore. The healthcare market for RFID tags and systems will rise rapidly from $90 million in 2006 to $2.1 billion in 2016. Mainly due to item level tagging of drugs and Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) for staff, patients and assets to improve efficiency, safety and availability and to reduce losses.

Benefits:

(1) Tagging will allow us to ensure the correct medication is provided to the right patient. Errors can be expensive and some in the worst-case scenarios may even lead to death of patients. RFID with its ability to match the patient to the treatment will greatly improve that.

(2) RFID will help stop counterfeiting of drugs. This way you will have trace ability of the drug by establishing the Pedigree at all times.

(3) Use of RFID will also help address Privacy issues. Imagine a patient with a wrist tag that automatically talks to the Tablet PC with the doctor an populates his screen without you having to utter a word about your ailment history.

Conclusion: There is no denying that Healthcare may never enjoy the biggest application of RFID ever; but its special requirements, un-quantifiable benefits and promise of better paybacks in the long run often make it seem very profitable and worthwhile business for suppliers.

RFID getting under your skin?

Inventory management was probably the first big use for RFID technology and from Wal-Mart to aircraft spares, from pets to comatose patients, from toll gates to credit card the newer uses for this technology is cropping up everywhere and almost everyday some new industry is incorporating RFID.

It is a buzzing technology, no doubts about that and the advantages are numerous like for example sorting the fake drugs from the real etc are all admirable and well thought of uses. Owners of pets know the agony of losing one and are often the first ones to use a tag for their pooches. If you were to think up some new uses for this technology you are sure to find a new area to introduce RFID and that’s how much of an "in thing" this is.

I am all for RFID inventory tagging and even tagging pets and to a certain extent healthcare tagging but I am skeptical and even uncomfortable with credit card tags - wave-and-buy credit cards. The more you think of it, does it not get a little crazy with so much of credit card fraud and identity thefts happening? Okay, so no tag has been hacked yet and till date this is true, but don’t you think some clever hacker is right now finding ways to do just that? Hang on to those PIN numbers for now any day a hacker may find a way to read your card.

I also strongly come up with an allergic reaction when I think of RFID tags under my skin and here I am not referring to medical complications that may occur in some of us humans with a foreign body inside but to the absurd ways the technology is currently being used. If I were to need emergency medical care I’d rather have a card in my pocket stating, my blood group, medical conditions and allergic drugs, clearly for a healthcare person to see rather than walk around with an implanted chip inside me. It's "no thank you" for me!

Track star

Hospital staff have long reported trouble in tracking down ventilators, EKG machines, intravenous pumps and other medical devices. Increased reliance on shared handheld devices and laptop computers only adds to the dilemma.

A growing number of hospitals are combining their existing wireless communication networks with RFID, to create real-time location systems. Some hospitals are even looking at the technology to monitor patients and locate staff. The concept is relatively simple: RFID tags are placed on moveable devices or integrated into staff identification badges or patient bracelets. The tags, which run on batteries, send continuous messages over the wireless system so their locations are known at every moment.

Beyond patient care issues, real-time tracking helps engineers locate devices that are due for maintenance or upgrades. Alerting staff to a device’s location also reduces overhead paging and ambient noise.

Technology vendors claim that hospitals with existing wireless networks can add an RFID component with little disruption. Doing so can reduce the cost of building a real-time tracking system. For roughly $100,000, a hospital could add RFID to its wireless system and track its most critical assets.

Read more: So that's where it is

Bar Codes vs RFID for Healthcare

Bar coding is a popular technology that has been adopted by the Health care Industry for medication management not only because it is best suited for maintaining patient safety in medication but also because it has been mandated by the FDA.

The next progressive step would be to implement a similar wireless technology for patient care management. RFID and Bar coding both qualify for the job but RFID as a technology can be considered superior of the two. When combined with sensor technologies they can provide very advanced systems of monitoring patients thereby improving procedural efficiency, recovery and care.

Unfortunately, the technology scores low in certain areas, the biggest concern being that of privacy. Confidentiality of patient records is not assured as RFID tags can be used to have unauthorized access to data. Teething problems persist in the implementation of RFID with complex integration of various components and installation of infrastructure.

Despite the disadvantages, RFID will see wide scale adoption in hospitals due to the great potential it shows in improving hospital management and due to a fall in prices for both active and passive RFID systems. And though Bar codes may continue to exist, the future belongs to RFID.

RFID improvises surgical procedures in South African Hospitals

The Medi-Clinic Hospital Group in South Africa recently tested successfully for a RFID based system to keep a track of its surgery patients. The RFID solution called the Holbert Systems helps in monitoring the exact time that patients spent inside the operating theaters. This in turn helps in improving payment terms with insurance companies besides enhancing operational efficiency.

The tags are tied to the bed of the patient instead of the body of the patient in order to avoid physical intervention during procedures. Health records of the patient are also maintained through the system. The Holbert System was developed by Wavetrend Technologies.

The system has been tested in six hospitals belonging to the Medi-Clinic group. Plans are on to experiment with RFID technology for keeping a track of equipment and hospital staff too in order to improve hospital management. supply chain review reports:

Manager of Patient Administration at Medi-Clinic Deon van Blommerstein says the system provides benefits to both the patients and the funders, since the theater times produced are accurate and thus indisputable. "Medi-Clinic looked forward to the continued participation of WaveTrend Technologies and the interaction of Holbert System Solutions in order to achieve our technological expectations. " he says.

Precision Dynamics Corp. Introduces new Wristbands for Healthcare

Developer of health care products, Precision Dynamics Corporation, is ready with a new range of wristbands solutions that use both bar code as well as RFID technologies. The new products will be showcased at the Health care Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) that is scheduled to be held at San Diego, CA between Feb 13-16.

The bar code category of products includes the new Aztec 2 dimensional band that promises enhanced scanability at the point-of-care, bar code printer, a handheld combo reader, and infant bar code tags. In RFID, the two new products that are to be introduced are the PDC Smart Station (TM) and Smart CompuBand-S(TM) RFID wristbands.

The Smart station system allows easy processing of patient transactions like appointments, collections and consent form processing. The Smart CompuBand S(TM) RFID wrist band can work both with bar code information as well as RFID information. The PDC RFID application helps in patient identification in various departments. It can prevent fatal errors by improving communication, data maintenance and hospital system efficiency. The entire range of its new products is expected to add greatly to patient safety and operational efficiency. tmcnet.com reports:

Over the last few years, PDC has successfully tested its RFID wristband solutions in hospitals worldwide, and continues to extend its offering of RFID systems. Two new products will be previewed at HIMSS: the PDC Smart Station (TM) and Smart CompuBand -S(TM) RFID Wristbands.

Pfizer tags Viagra to thwart counterfeit trade

The popularity of Viagra as a wonder drug for spicing up your sex life, has encouraged a huge counterfeit market with more than 5 million pills in circulation. Pfizer, producer of the drug, has decided to attach RFID tags to its Viagra bottles in order to maintain their authenticity in the market.

The tags will enable pharmacists and drug distributors to retrieve the necessary codes from the chip embedded inside and check their genuineness by verifying the same with a Pfizer database. The tags will be supplied by Tagsys, a French company, and Alien Technology, a California based company for Viagra bottles, cases and pallets.

The technology  not only makes it harder for duplicators to copy the product but it also offers easy handling and reading as compared to barcodes. However it is subject to a higher rate of failure and can cost quite a packet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is encouraging the pharmaceutical Industry to accept and implement the technology. Pfizer hopes to contain losses that run into millions owing to fake drugs with the introduction of these new tagged bottles and cases. news.com.com reports:

The company expects to "tag" all Viagra shipments within the U.S. this year, totaling several million bottles, said Peggy Staver, director of trade product integrity at Pfizer. "Viagra was selected for the RFID project because it has been a major target for counterfeiters," Pfizer said in a statement.

Sun introduces RFID Solution to fight Counterfeit Drugs

A new RFID  solution was recently announced by Sun Microsystems that can help the pharmaceutical Industry in a big way. The system can help authenticate drugs and prevent fake medicines from getting into the market.

Selling of fake drugs and selling on false prescriptions can cost large sums of money to big brand names and cause unrepairable damage to the health of those consuming them. The high market value, small unit sizes, and specific storage needs of drugs make their tracking very important. The earlier practice of using bar codes to secure the drug supply chain was not very effective. The Sun RFID system uses Electronic Product Codes (EPC) to do the same job in a much efficient manner.

The system can also help bring down medical mistakes by tracking patients and crucial medical history and information. Overall, the Sun RFID Industry Solution for Drug Authentication provides for a complete drug security solution for every drug item and at every stage of the drug supply chain. biz.yahoo.com reports:

"Drug counterfeiting directly impacts consumer safety and is estimated to cost the industry over $35 billion a year," Elie Simon, CEO of TAGSYS. "Sun's customers can be certain that the RFID solution will work seamlessly with the industry's most robust item-level tags and readers that can deliver six sigma level reading performance."

HDMA asks for uniform standards for secure healthcare distribution

Concerned with the security and reliability of the health care supply chain in the USA, the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) has demanded that more stringent and uniform licensing standards be devised at the federal level for the pharmaceutical Industry. According to the organization, with an increase in the number of inter state medical shipments, the health care distribution system needs to be more uniform in order to ensure that essential medicines reach consumers in time.

HDMA said that the present regulatory framework that were framed in the 1980s were too outdated to meet the present day security requirements. It was particularly worried about counterfeit medicines entering the supply chain. HDMA suggested implementing a multifaceted system to counter check security threats to the health care system.

HDMA called for strengthening government regulation and enforcement. adopting new technologies and implementing industry best practices. In its recommendations, it strongly prescribed implementing new technologies like EPC and RFID. The whole endeavor requires efforts at the national level by both the  the pharmaceutical distributors and the government. pharmalive.com reports:

"The time has come for uniform, federal standards for the licensing of pharmaceutical distributors," said HDMA President and CEO John M. Gray. "Maintaining the integrity of the United States' prescription drug supply is a compelling national priority that requires a national solution involving members of the supply chain working closely with government."

Use of RFID in fighting Bird Flu

Since 1997, Bird Flu or Avian Influenza has been a major concern for the people in South East Asia. From time to time, it occurs in places like China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. To prevent the spread of such diseases, surveillance is very much necessary. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology could be helpful for the surveillance.

RFID is a wireless automatic identification technology. It can be used to track livestock of poultry and human beings. It has been already proven as an efficient tracking system. Recently, the Thailand government has decided to adopt RFID technology for its poultry identification program. RFID has the ability to track the livestock without interrupting any normal activities. thejakartapost.com reports:

In 2003, a scenario of applying an RFID-based tracking system during the SARS outbreak was demonstrated in two Singapore hospitals. During the trial, the movement of people in the hospitals can be recorded.

Read More: Fighting bird flu with RFID technology

Asian Hospitals to get RFID Wristbands

It has been acknowledged now that RFID technology is the need of the hour. RFID is used various fields such as Airports, Military Establishments, Library and Hospitals. In a significant development, Precision Dynamics Corp. in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard Co. announced that it would offer RFID Wristbands to hospitals in the Asia/Pacific region. Precision Dynamics Corp. is based in San Fernando, Calif. These wristbands will be embedded with RFID chips that can be used to identify patients.

Under the agreement, Calif-based Hewlet-Packard's health care industry division for the Asia/Pacific region will be granted a license to offer the RFID wristbands as part of its IT products. Precision Dynamics will also offer sales and technical support to hospitals in that region. It is noted that several US health care organizations are already using the RFID wristbands. mobilehealthdata.com reports:

The RFID chips on the vendor's wristbands can be embedded with data and scanned with a reader to identify patients. Earlier this summer, Precision Dynamics implemented the technology in Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan as a result of a separate reseller agreement.

Read More: Asian Hospitals Get RFID Wristbands

Pharmaceutical Company to deploy RFID tracking system

A St. Louis based Generic Drug manufacturing company, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, is planning to implement a new RFID tracking system in order to keep a tab on its prescription drugs going through its supply chain. The pharmacy company plans to begin with the introduction of passive tags and eventually graduate to more secured ones as its other supply chain trading partners adopt RFID.

Mallinckrodt has been using UHF EPC tags on certain select bottles of painkillers on a request from Wal-Mart. Having learned the benefits that can accrue from using RFID, the company now wants to shift to an item-level tagging system. Mallinckrodt has tied up with ADT Security Services and OATSystems to provide the RFID technology. The company expects to improve its internal operations in a big way and that too in a cost effective manner with the new RFID system in place.rfidjournal.com reports:

"The entire supply chain is going to have to use RFID technology in order to allow for the data capture and analysis [through EPC reads] to arrive at what we suspect is the full benefit of RFID technology. But in the short term, we think we've identified some areas where internal use of RFID will result in wins for us," says Mark Pilkington, Mallinckrodt's associate director of professional and trade relations.

Read more:Generic Drugmaker to Pilot RFID