Providing the best possible healthcare is always critical, and in the time of COVID-19, has become even more essential. Healthcare providers are doing all they can to deliver the best possible care.

RFID and NFC are two technologies that are making healthcare even better. Connectivity, inventory control and monitoring patients’ use of medicine are among the many examples of how RFID and NFC are improving today’s healthcare.

Manfred Mueller, Identiv’s COO and GM, identity, reported that the use of RFID in healthcare has grown tremendously in recent years as the industry has realized how its use makes healthcare simpler and safer for all.

“RFID connects everyday items in the IoT, a major plus as the world becomes increasingly digital ,” Mueller said. “In fact, the global RFID in healthcare market size is expected to reach around US$12 billion by 2027.”

Peter Bloch, business development manager for Avery Dennison, noted that the global RFID market has substantially grown over the past 10 years.

“With the use cases/applications and overall demand growing for RFID in healthcare at an anticipated rate of +21% CAGR through 2026, we see great potential in this segment,” Bloch said. “We are on a trajectory of innovation building on the technologies we currently have in demand and better aligning for future requests within healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

“The COVID pandemic in 2020 has accelerated much of this growth with rising pressure for reducing operational costs and streamlining workflows, demands for efficient supply chain management, and need to improve the quality and efficiency of care,” added Bloch.

When it comes to healthcare, RFID is ideal for many use cases, including hospitals, track and trace, and inventory.

Karin Fabri, VP marketing at Tageos, observed that the use of RFID technology has experienced considerable growth both in quantity (number of inlays and tags deployed) and in quality (scope of applications).

“RFID-based tracking and tracing has become more common and comprehensive in healthcare, with ever more ‘items’ becoming equipped with RFID inlays and tags,” said Fabri. “In parallel, we have seen the scope of RFID applications expand rapidly to cover numerous application areas.”

Fabri said these areas include inventory accuracy and traceability; tracking and tracing of pharmaceuticals and instruments; authentication of pharmaceutical products; product recall management; fostering anti-counterfeiting and, ultimately, drug safety; improving patient experience and safety; and adherence to regulatory and compliance standards.

“At Tageos, we have seen a significant increase in the demand for healthcare-grade RFID inlays and tags over the last few years,” added Fabri. “This effect has gained further momentum against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Pankaj Shukla, director of market development for RFID at Zebra Technologies, observed that the number of use cases where RFID can help improve efficiencies and quality of care continue to expand.

Shukla noted that RFID use cases in healthcare are centered around keeping track of assets and inventory, specifically medical devices, specimens and even staff and patients, and even hospital beds, wheelchairs and linens.

“Hospitals can track critical equipment, especially equipment on wheels, to reduce time spent searching and restore time for patient care,” Shukla added. “RFID is also being used to support time-critical care in emergency and operating rooms, as it can provide a number of workflow efficiencies that improve patient throughput and enable care teams to support an increased number of daily cases.

“We are seeing RFID increasingly used in critical care and operating rooms and starting to be utilized in the healthcare supply chain,” Shukla added.

Bloch observed that ideal use cases include supply chain inventory management, medical tray restocking accuracy, patient identification, equipment identification and pharmaceutical track and trace and authentication.

“Technology-dependent advantages related to efficiency optimization, infection prevention and patient safety and experience open up a wide range of applications for RFID technology in numerous segments across the healthcare industry,” Fabri said. “This is equally true in pharmaceutical supply chains, in manifold in-hospital operations, and in patient safety and satisfaction.”

“Hospitals must be able to track and trace critical equipment or resources while also monitoring who is entering secure areas,” Mueller said. “By doing so, they are able to provide the best level of care for their patients by keeping them safe, securing their medications, and protecting their personal information.”

RFID and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic led to acceleration of adoption of RFID and NFC in healthcare. For example, Identiv launched its NFC-enabled uTrust SafeTemp Body Temperature Measurement Patch, which Mueller noted supports the reopening of public spaces, including theme parks and stadiums, and helps operators keep attendees and employees comfortable, confident and safe.

“The product also supports global governments and healthcare workers that need to periodically monitor quarantined patients diagnosed with COVID-19,” added Mueller.

“The pandemic has led to a rise in sales of our transponders that go into the valves of ventilators that are used on ICUs in severe COVID cases. These transponders store the settings of the ventilator on the valve, make sure the valves are not connected the wrong way around, and track the duration of how long the valve and the built-in filters have been in use – and, therefore, when they need to be changed,” Mueller noted. “Additionally, we’ve seen a rise in sales of transponders that go onto COVID test kits for authentication and track and trace purposes to ensure that no fake or malfunctional test kits are out there on the market.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic did provide an opportunity for driving efficiencies,” Bloch said. “Some of the applications that we have seen focus around include better management and visibility into PPE, ensuring hygiene protocols are followed by medical professionals, identifying delays and efficiencies at COVID-19 testing sites, precise temperature monitoring of vaccines, data collection to enable COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, self-guided temperature screening for healthcare professionals, and COVID-19 test kits and NFC technology.”

“The US was already making great progress on digitizing records, but COVID-19 highlighted the benefits of using electronic health records (EHR) over paper records,” Shukla observed. “Sanitizing protocols are much simpler if you are disinfecting equipment built for healthcare. Zebra has a complete portfolio of healthcare solutions and our scanners, mobile computers and printers are designed with healthcare-grade plastics to withstand repeated wipedowns using approved disinfectants.”

Mueller noted that vaccine cold chain monitoring and logistics are another promising area for NFC and RFID.

“For vaccine cold chain monitoring and logistics, smart sensors like our uTrust Sense Temperature Tracker can relay temperature readings via secure IoT for end-to-end monitoring at every step in the process to ensure vaccine safety and potency,” he said. “These sensors generate alerts when a shipment is nearing the edge of acceptable temperature ranges, enabling status tracking and quickly identifying which doses need manual adjustment. Early intervention is critical to fix any temperature issues before the shipment becomes unusable.”

Fabri said that the COVID-19 pandemic clearly led to further implementation of RFID.

“The healthcare sector is facing strong pressure to enhance its efficiency both in its daily operations as well as in its supply chains,” added Fabri. “Since improved efficiency and product authentication are core benefits of virtually every RFID deployment, COVID-19 fosters the adoption of RFID in the healthcare sector as well. Moreover, the ‘touchless’ nature of any RFID application contributes to the technology’s appeal even under harsh pandemic conditions.”

Key Benefits of RFID in Healthcare

Industry leaders say that it is clear that RFID and NFC technologies offer unique benefits when it comes to healthcare.

Fabri mentioned that RFID has several basic and crucially important benefits for the healthcare sector.

“The first is related to efficiency optimization, and the second to infection prevention through completely touchless operation,” Fabri added. “Efficiency optimization is mirrored in typical healthcare applications for inventory accuracy, based on the tracking and tracing of instruments, pharmaceuticals and samples, and for patient safety through the authentication of pharmaceutical products. Additional benefits lie in pharmaceutical drug safety, enhanced patient satisfaction achieved through RFID (NFC) based patient experiences, and last but not least, true adherence to regulatory requirements and compliance standards.”

“In hospitals, pharmacies, and other healthcare organizations, there are people, data, medicines and devices that need consistent monitoring,” Mueller said. “Hospitals and pharmaceutical facilities, in particular, need to remain secure and with the help of RFID, these facilities can restrict access to highly sensitive areas, manage and identify visitors, track and verify temperature-sensitive items, and track inventory. Key benefits for the healthcare and pharmaceutical market by adding flexible RFID include authentication, anti-counterfeiting, transfer of patient information, temperature sensing and monitoring, and patient compliance monitoring.”

“RFID is one of the most accurate and cost-efficient technologies when it comes to tracking, tracing and monitoring all different types of assets that healthcare providers use,” said Shukla. “It improves asset utilization, workflow efficiencies and as a result, reduces cost and improves patient care.”

Avery Dennison’s Bloch said that RFID has a handful of benefits, but the leading efficiencies include efficient and accurate tracking of data, reduced time spent on administrative duties, inventory related savings and tracking and tracing throughout the supply chain.

Future Growth for RFID in Healthcare

There are plenty of opportunities ahead where RFID and NFC can be used to improve the healthcare experience.

Frank Smits, business development manager for Avery Dennison, discussed further trends of patient experience using RFIC and NFC.

“E-Pharmacy was barely imagined 10 years ago, but today it is driving change at the patient level, where incorporated NFC labels can make the patient experience both interactive and convenient,” Smits observed.

“We are seeing more applications where pharmaceutical companies are looking to improve connectivity,” added Smits. “Imagine a world where your prescriptions came with a virtual pharmacist. Patients get access to all kinds of product information, but in their language of choice, also called an E-leaflet.”

Smits gave the example of patients having 24/7 access to an app, and looking to see if they have taken their medication correctly and ensuring they stick to the dosage.

“You could simply tap your phone to your medicine and have an interaction with a virtual pharmacist,” added Smits. “Ask some standard questions, check if any of the other medications or supplements you are taking will have an adverse effect on the medicine, or simply get some reassurance that you were remembering what the doctor told you correctly.

“Last mile connectivity to the patients also enables drug safety as patients can check product expiry dates easily with their app, but brand owners can also easier do a recall when connected with their patients,” Smits concluded. “With that you can build better, stronger relationships with your end user, the patient and get valuable information and insights on them.”

Bloch pointed to Digital id trends in healthcare.

“We see trends of smaller tags (antennas and chips), or the use of other passive technologies like Bluetooth, distributed data gathering networks , and an increase in data analytics to smooth supply chain troubles and increase progress on sustainability goals,” said Bloch.

“We also see a move from provider tagging upstream to pharma manufacturing, which also represents a move to more mass tagging of drugs and demands abilities in scale and quality processes,” Bloch noted. “Industry consortiums such as DoseID create universal standards for RFID tag usage in the medication tracking space, providing additional concepts to ensure items scan well also in challenging environments - thinking of liquids, metals or high density.”

Mueller said that Identiv expects to see continued growth for RFID in healthcare in the upcoming years.

“Healthcare facilities need security beyond the perimeter and RFID offers highly secure, end-to-end access control,” Mueller said. “As such, we are currently applying for a government-funded project where the goal is to develop technology for smart NFC and sensor enabled wound care products.”

Zebra’s Shukla sees the use of RFID in healthcare growing on an increasing basis.

“RFID allows the medical supply chain teams to leverage the power of data to track, locate and protect assets, staff and equipment in real-time,” added Shukla. “Improved inventory management capabilities drive out wasted time for all healthcare providers, reducing non-value activities and allowing more time for patient care.”