Patient management can often be difficult with shift changes, tests being ran, charts being picked up not to mention emergencies. New technology has now made patient tracking easier and less time consuming by knowing the exact location of patients and medical equipment in real time.

Radio Frequency Identification technology or RFID is being used for patient management. It works by using a special chip that stores information, an antenna, and a stationary reader. The information that’s transmitted from the chip to the reader is stored in the hospital’s computer system and can be retrieved at any time.

Time is money in the business world and the hospital is no different. By placing an active RFID tag onto a patient’s bed, in each testing area and a data buffer per area, a precise record of time spent in a location is logged.

In a recent pilot that’s being conducted in six separate hospitals, these tags were used for a period of 12 months on the patient beds. During this period, it was found that by validating the time spent in the operating room, an improvement in insurance company payments was seen.

When less human intervention used for patient tracking and record keeping, an accurate audit trail is created by the system that records and reads times and locations. This simply closes the door to human error. Patient management is very manageable with these systems and employees are freed up to perform tasks that are more important than record keeping.

Not only have the payment times from insurance companies been reduced, but because the billing is more accurate, patients are less confused when they receive their bill. A hospital that uses this type of patient management system can provide proof as to when a specific test was performed as well as the costs associated with them.

Patient tracking is not the only way to use RFID technology in the medical field. Medications and treatments can also be a part of patient management when medications, supplies, and equipment all become part of the RFID system. Doctors will no longer have wait for a patient’s chart or worry about whether a medication was recorded properly or not.

If a hospital can accurately provide proof of tests, equipment, time, and medication used to treat a patient, malpractice lawsuits will decrease. Accurate information will allow for better care and less guesswork.

Testing these RFID tag systems is still in process, but there has been nothing but cost cutting and time saving results so far. Many medical institutions are already using this program in order to save money in next year’s budget. Patient management is critical for the future of hospitals, not to mention keeping track of medications and supplies that somehow disappear year after year.

Discover the advantages of using RFID tags in medical facilities over the course of a single year. Patient management is critical to every hospital because human lives are at stake. When costs are kept down, everyone wins.

Lizl Joseph is Marketing Manager To get Bloodhound Technologies, a Patient Management and Tracking technology Company situated in Cape Town, South Africa. To get more info, go to Patient Management and Tracking Technology