RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Bayer HealthCare Smart Cabinet

The RFID chips are embedded in the bottle labels....when attached the label also encodes a lot number and expiration date on the label's chip...the products require a special cabinet and can be mounted or be placed on a shelf...the cabinet contains an embedded RFID interrogator...the shelf includes a touch screen and an automatic door lock. If the system accepts the worker's ID number, the door unlocks and the screen displays a list of patients scheduled for procedures that day. The patient list is derived from the hospital's admission records...not only does this impact safety, but also through smart business intelligence software, enables the correct billing for the patient...just think how this could have been of benefit with the recent news stories on the overdose at Cedars hospital in Los Angeles...BD

In 2003, the JCAHO created an additional incentive for improving the tracking of contrast media: It added contrast agents to its definition of medications. With that new classification came more rigid requirements for the management of storage and documentation, which must then be reported back to the JCAHO. Hospitals that fail to comply with Joint Commission rules risk being denied payment from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for patients who use Medicare and Medicaid. Tracking the product on paper, Bertetti says, "is labor-intensive and takes radiologists' time from what they are really there to do—treat the patient."

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals then developed the plans for an RFID-enabled cabinet with Mobile Aspects, a maker of smart shelves for tracking stints or other high-value medical devices in hospitals. At the end of 2006, says Bryan Christianson, Mobile Aspects' VP of marketing, the companies began piloting the resulting technology—VistaTrak—at Florida Hospital in Orlando, and at Harper University Hospital in Detroit.