INTEREST IN RFID CONTINUES TO RISE IN HEALTH CARE VERTICAL

Venture Development:The gllobal market for radio frequency identification (RFID) systems in the health care vertical reached an estimated $45 million in 2005, with hardware accounting for approximately two-thirds of the market. VDC anticipates a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44% over the next five years, with revenue shipments exceeding $279 million in 2010.

Although still in its nascent stages, interest in RFID within the health care market is at its highest level and continues to climb among health care organizations (HCOs) such as hospitals, care management specialists, and medical supply manufacturers and distributors. HCOs are engaged in an ongoing effort to improve patient safety and cut costs by tracking every activity, process, and asset. RFID technology offers a powerful benefit over other tracking systems:

• It can automatically trace any medical device, supply, patient or employee over a given period of time.

• It provides automation without the need for line-of-sight, eliminating human interaction/error and significantly reducing labor requirements.

HCOs recognize that RFID has the potential to provide significant advantages, but use of the technology is relatively new in the health care sector and investments in RFID remain limited. For many HCOs, justification for investment in RFID can be a difficult proposition due to several factors:

• Return on investment (ROI) models associated with RFID are currently less than market expectations;

• There is no 'preferred' solution, little industry standardization, and the technology is not widely adopted;

• Realizing the benefits of RFID requires modifying existing business processes, a task that typically requires significant changes in corporate IT strategies;

• Depending on the application and type of information being captured, RFID deployments could pose important business and legal risks in terms of privacy and data security;

• There is a lack of 'benchmark' installations and case studies that demonstrate the benefits of RFID;

• There is uncertainty pertaining to the validation of RFID mandates from regulatory bodies such as the FDA and HDMA.

Nonetheless, increased awareness and exciting new applications have generated a significant amount of enthusiasm for RFID in the health care vertical. Health care organizations are quietly becoming innovators and lead users of both active and passive solutions, and will likely outpace other market segments in the very near future.

RFID? Wikipedia Red Viking

Health Care Services Vertical Market Publ 20060308