Healthcare: the real sweet spot for RFID
Healthcare is the new frontier for RFID. In the past three months alone, RFID 24-7 has reported on how RFID can dramatically increase organ donations and how the technology saved more than $500,000 in rare cancer drugs.
Yesterday’s news that a freezer malfunction at a Harvard research hospital had damaged brain tissues destined for autism research only reinforces that RFID’s greatest potential is with the healthcare sector, where it can not only greatly impact efficiencies but save lives.
The RFID in Healthcare Consortium has leased 80,000 square feet of space for its Intelligent Hospital demo.
The freezer malfunction at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital severely damaged one-third of the world’s largest collection of autism brain samples, potentially setting back research on the disorder by years, scientists say.
According to the Boston Globe, an official at the renowned brain bank in Belmont discovered that the freezer had shut down in late May, without triggering two alarms. Inside, they found 150 thawed brains that had turned dark from decay; about a third of them were part of a collection of autism brains.
“This was a priceless collection,’’ said Dr. Francine Benes, director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, told the Boston Globe.
RFID is already being used in so many ways in the healthcare sector, yet the technology is still in its infancy when it comes to applications that can save lives and help to slow out of control healthcare costs.
Here’s a look at some of the RFID use cases in healthcare that we’ve covered over the past 12 months. You can be sure there are more to come.
RFID prevents $578K worth of rare cancer drugs from spoiling at a Rhode Island hospital.
RFID Healthcare Consortium unveils plans for intelligent hospital.
RFID records management saves lives in India, and could track the records of up to 100,000 residents.
RFID records 4 million hand washing events.
Jordan Hospital deploys RFID-powered oncology solution.
