The Health Care RFID Blog

In a recent article titled, “5 Technologies to Make Surgery Safer” by Gienna Shaw for HealthLeaders Media, it was mentioned that there are plenty of technologies on the market that have the ability to make surgeries safer. The article by Gienna Shaw listed the solutions below:

1. RFID to aid in retaining surgical instruments.

The surgical items (scalpel, sponge etc.) can be tagged to ensure that all instruments are accounted for and outside of the patients body before they procedure is complete.

2. Biometric-activated data cards.

These cards can be used to prevent wrong-site surgeries. The cards have the ability to hold gigabytes of data including the patient’s scans, charts, MRI images and more. The patient information can then only be viewed after his or her fingerprint has been captured.

3. Electrosurgical probe.

These devices help prevent healthy tissue damage that can occur while “diseased” tissue is being removed.

4. Surgical Robots

These robots are being used to manage anesthesia when the healthcare organization is lacking access to anesthesiologists. The robots are remotely controlled by experts in the field.

5. Alarm management systems.

Because an OR has several different alarms constantly going off healthcare workers tend to tune them out, the actual term for this is “alert fatigue.” This technology was designed to prioritize the importance of each alert and notify the appropriate personnel when a matter is urgent.

Preventing Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs) is certainly another major problem that needs to be addressed with technology. Through the use of RFID, not only can we record activity, we can attempt to prevent unsafe practices and modify behavior. Dynamic RFID along with one of our partners has come up with a hand-hygiene compliance solution that has the ability to alert a healthcare worker when he or she has not washed his or her hands.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), checklists have proven to decrease the percentage of postsurgical complications also. According to Dr. Atul Gawande, author of, “The Checklist Manifesto: How to get things right,” implementing a checklist in healthcare for undertakings as large as surgery can help prevent HAIs and therefore reduce the number of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) because of infections and even prevent deaths. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs account for about 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths each year and annual costs to U.S. hospitals (adjusted for inflation) range from $28.4 -$33.8 billion to $35.7-$45 billion. With that said, RFID can play a major role in increasing safety in the OR.

On Tuesday the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) issued the “final rule” outlining the guidelines and standards of a successful EMR implementation. The leader of these efforts, David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for HIT, stated that the rule is primarily intended to address financial barriers and benefits of implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) system.

With this rule came incentives for physicians and hospitals, extending some flexibility in criteria required to qualify for the billions in federal funding made available with the meaningful use initiative. In regards to flexibility, a “core” plan has been set. All healthcare professionals and hospitals will be required to reach a “core” set of mandatory objectives and then will have the liberty to pick and choose five additional objectives from a supplementary group. With the achievement levels and quality measures reduced, it will be much easier for physicians and healthcare organizations to gain access to grant funding for their IT projects. The goal here is to get everyone onboard quickly so that when more sophisticated uses of electronic records become available it will be easier to adapt. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be rewarding users of EMRs with monetary incentive payments made available through the 2009 economic stimulus funds.

Dr. Don Berwick, head of the CMS, mentioned that properly modernized healthcare can bring tremendous benefits to improving the quality of care and workflow processes creating a much smother shift while also reducing costs. Healthcare organizations staff and patients will all benefit with modern HIT in terms of improving safety, care, transparency while also reducing costs.

Kathleen Sebelius, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, noted that the standards of the rule have been designed to work for all healthcare organizations large and small and that having better health information can save lives. The main concept of this rule is to improve the quality of care while keeping down costs. President Obama has a goal to have an electronic record for all Americans in 2014.

The Journal of the American Medical Association has been covering the topic of infection control practices heavily over the past several months. In an article posted recently, Infection Control Practices in Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs), it was reported that a couple of ASCs in the Nevada area were directly tied to the largest healthcare associated infection (HAI) breakout linked with hepatitis C in the nation’s history. Kevin B. O’Reilly, an amednews writer, noted recently that a 28-count criminal indictment was filed against the staff members involved in this breakout.

The Center for Disease Controls (CDC) infection control hand hygiene guidelines observation tool was used to conduct an inspection of ASCs nationwide. After the initial random inspections the ASCs that displayed extremely noncompliant practices faced reinspection. 68% of the facilities had a reported lapse in their infection control practices with 19% associated to poor hand-hygiene after the reinspection. The study flirts with the idea that millions of patients as well as healthcare workers across the United States are potentially at a high risk of contracting an HAI every year.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be limiting financial reimbursement to hospitals for patients that have been readmitted within 30 days after discharge. With these restrictions being made healthcare workers will need to comply with all standard prevention procedures in order to help maintain the financial status of the organization. If an outbreak occurs like the outbreak in Nevada the healthcare organization involved will have no chance of surviving the financial ramifications. With more people projected to go through the system, Medicare reimbursements falling and no funds available for expansion what will healthcare organizations do in an effort to prevent HAIs?

Dynamic RFID was selected as a 2010 Innovator by the Premier healthcare alliance and was highlighted at this year’s BREAKTHROUGHS conference in Washington, DC. The honorees were chosen due to their commitment to improving healthcare quality through innovation. Twenty-three healthcare related innovations were selected to take part in the Innovation Celebration, all with the same goal: improve care, reduce costs and minimize risks. More than 3,000 healthcare providers, experts and researchers were present at this year’s conference.

The event not only showcased new products, but also highlighted manufacturers that have taken existing technologies and made them more accommodating. The innovations displayed showed a strong focus on continuing procedural advancements in the industry.

Dynamic’s hand-hygiene solution proved to be a great fit for the deficiencies that many Infection Control specialists have been pained with over the past several years. The technology behind the solution showed a fit for all departments within healthcare facilities creating a great “buzz” for Dynamic RFID.

Innovation Celebration 2010, HAI Solution Displayed

BREAKTHROUGHS Conference 2010

How do “you” plan to account for the people that need your service when:

• Medicare reimbursements are falling?
• more people are projected to go through the system?
• no funds are available for expansion?

Why is it that in a high-tech environment low-tech is abundant? Some critics argue that Health Information Technology (HIT) has become stagnant as technology moves forward. In an article published by the Harvard Business Review, Has the U.S. Health Technology Sector Run Out of Gas?, writer Jeff Goldsmith says, “Today, our medical technology sector seems to have become mired in a lengthening period of creative menopause which not only threatens its economic foundations, but its global leadership position.”

The innovation behind EMRs has seemed to have stalled, why? Experts might say that this is happening due to the high industry failure rate (30-40%). With the 2015 goal for full implementation of EMRs the manufacturers of these systems will need to come up with a seamless solution. Changing the culture of any business is difficult for professionals that have been doing things the same way for a period of time. In order for any industry to change their operations a system will need to be tailored to fit the specific needs of each individual entity in order to have everyone on board.

As EMR systems gain population in the industry, there will be many different applications available for use in an effort to manipulate all of the data collected. The systems are platforms for many different applications that can drive the industry to interoperability. Each “healthcare worker” has something different that they are focused on tracking, whether it is a mobile asset, compliance by healthcare workers or patient vitals.

According to an article published this week in Healthcare IT News, healthcare technologies have the potential to transform the industry. Lisa Suennen, a managing member at Psilos Group stated, “EMRs are becoming a commodity, but putting applications on top of EMRs to deliver usable data creates value.” Suennen also mentioned that another area with growth opportunity is patient safety.

RFID and RTLS technologies have the ability to seamlessly integrate with EMRs. What are the benefits that come from implementing RFID and RTLS solutions into EMRs?

·         Eliminate the need to manually enter data – by eliminating manual entry an organization will improve work flow, minimizing human error therefore minimizing costs.

·         Improving Patient Safety – Tracking compliance of hand-hygiene as well as OR/ED patient tracking and medication tracking.

The more activities that can be tagged and tracked on a sensory network provide an opportunity to manipulate additional data and additional input without additional manual entry. With real-time updates each staff member will have the ability to gain visibility geared toward their own interests within the organization, from wheel chairs to IV pumps. With this we can work to improve care, reduce costs and minimize risks.

As we all know proper hand hygiene in hospitals is an essential part in the prevention of hospital acquired infections (HAIs). Some physicians say that the use of gloves promotes poor hand washing practice within the organization. What are your thoughts?

In the last few days there has been a lot of talk in the health care industry surrounding President Obama’s most recent health care proposal.  The year-long effort, and the fourth proposal, is focused on making health care more affordable, making health insurers more accountable, expanding healthcare coverage to all Americans and making the health system sustainable. A large portion of the proposal focuses on reforming health care insurance—designed to reduce the cost of healthcare for patients.  Moreover, Title III of the proposal, “Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Health Care,” includes incentivizing doctors, nurses and hospitals to improve care and reduce unnecessary errors that harm patients.

While the government focuses on roping in costs and incentives to improve patient care, what are healthcare providers doing to help meet these objectives?

Some of the most costly healthcare issues are healthcare acquired infections (HAIs). Annually, HAIs are estimated to affect more than 1.7 million patients, kill 99,000 patients, and cost between $35 billion and $45 billion. Under the new federal reimbursement policy, payment for care required as a result of HAIs will no longer be approved, making prevention urgently important to the bottom line. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs are a top 10 cause of death in America.

One of the simplest ways HAIs can be prevented is by medical personnel properly washing their hands. 

While Washington works on the insurance issues, health care providers are looking to health information technology (HIT), including RFID solutions, to help reduce cost, minimize risks and improve patient care now.  One of the best ways to prevent HAIs is hand-washing, and one of the easiest ways to ensure compliance is to back it with technology.

The hand-hygiene solution provided by Dynamic, built on Versus’ IR-RF technology, consists of badges, ceiling sensors and soap/sanitizer dispensers retrofitted with sensors. When a person dispenses soap or sanitizer, the sensor reads the ID badge and timestamps the occurrence.  If a badged person approaches a patient prior to handwashing, the system alerts the individual audibly. The information is stored in a database for reporting and is easily integrated with other systems.

The system effectively addresses hand-hygiene compliance by automatically capturing hand-washing data in the background, 24-7. It alerts staff on compliance in real time, allowing hospitals to prevent adverse events before they occur. The system tracks who washed their hands and when. 

Other RFID and RTLS solutions, such as patient tracking, medication tracking and lab tracking can help bring down the costs of healthcare by ensuring costly errors are not made. Let Washington worry about insurance reform and healthcare providers can focus on how to reduce costs, minimize risks and most important, improve patient care with HIT.

Do You Know How Your Organization Can Get a Piece of the Pie?

On Friday, Feb. 12, the White House announced nearly $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds designated for healthcare providers to use toward the implementation of health information technology (HIT) and to train thousands of workers for healthcare jobs. According to an article in HealthLeaders Media, these funds are expected to help make HIT available to more than 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and to support the training of thousands of people for careers in healthcare and HIT. Of the $1 billion allocated for this initiative, $750 million is set aside in grant awards that will help enable more healthcare providers to have access to HIT and help facilitate healthcare providers’ adoption of electronic health records (EHRs).

With HIMSS 2010 right around the corner, funding will certainly be top of mind for healthcare providers looking at thousands of different HIT options. Do you know how to go about getting these funds for your organization? Do you know the types of HIT implementations that are eligible to receive these funds?

It’s somewhat ironic that so many exciting – and cost-saving – technologies are available to serve the health care industry, including advanced RFID and RTLS solutions, but in these economic times many health systems have been forced to cut technology investments. The White House announcement provides more opportunity for health care organizations to go beyond EMR implementation and look for additional HIT that will help drive efficiencies and ultimately improve patient care. Because the RFID/RTLS technology solutions that Dynamic Computer provides can greatly reduce costs, minimize risks and improve patient care, many of our prospects are eligible for these grants, but likely not aware of the guidelines.

In a past blog post we introduced our partnership with IMGrants, a funding research program offered by Ingram Micro to qualified resellers.  This relationship affords us the ability to help you identify, apply for and maximize federal funds, including those that are a result of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, as well as state and foundation grant sources for projects. IMGrants is helping us connect healthcare providers with the money they need to improve their bottom lines and delivery of service.

Through our IMGrants partnership we can help you answer your key questions about obtaining grants and the types of HIT eligible for the more than $750 million in new grant funds. We will be at HIMSS10 (booth 2920)and encourage you to stop by to learn more about how Dynamic can help your organization through this dramatic change in the healthcare industry.