Hospital RFID use raises concerns

Hospitals are increasingly relying on electronic tracking systems to keep tabs on equipment and lab specimens, and even to monitor the location of patients and staff. But the heightened surveillance is raising some safety and privacy concerns, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Institutions are putting electronic tags on all sorts of things, from ventilators so they can readily be located in an emergency, to surgical sponges so they don't get sewn up inside a patient. Some hospitals have begun tagging arriving patients to help cut waiting times in emergency rooms, and some have begun tracking employees to help supervisors move them to understaffed areas.

The growing use of tracking technology has privacy experts warning that hospitals must take steps to protect any personal data from being inadvertently released. And requiring healthcare workers to wear tags raises questions about putting staffers under undue surveillance.

IBA Health Group expects to double revenue after launching its new IT platform, which allows practitioners to access a patient's records at every stage of the healthcare process. Until now, each doctor, hospital and laboratory had their own computer systems, which meant records had to be posted or carried, states The Daily Telegraph.

IBA chief executive Gary Cohen said the healthcare information company expects to more than double its revenue in the following three years from fiscal 2010, and added the market for IBA's Lorenzo health IT platform was in "the billions of dollars".

The system is part of the UK National Health Service's $30 billion IT project. The product is also being trialled in university hospitals in Europe, and Australia is expected to follow in implementing the system.

Park Avenue Medical Data Systems, a US provider of software solutions for the electronic healthcare record arena, has launched PQRI Made Easy, a free software as a service product for physicians based in offices, hospitals, and specialised medical facilities, says Cloud Computing Journal.

The service allows medics to earn pay-for-performance bonuses from Medicare pursuant to the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.

The underlying information technology for PQRI Made Easy is used successfully in Israel, where every doctor utilises an electronic healthcare record-keeping system and citizens can access their complete medical records over the Internet.