As Pressure on U.S. Healthcare Facilities Due to Growing Patient Volumes Encourages Adoption of RFID.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The consistently rising patient population in the United States is increasing the demand for cost effective, speedy, and efficient medical solutions. Radio frequency identification (RFID) implementation can enable healthcare institutions to effectively track their assets and reduce costs of misplaced equipment.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.healthcare.frost.com), U.S. RFID Markets for Healthcare, reveals that this market generated revenue of $300.0 million in 2004 and is projected to reach $658.1 million in 2007.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end-users and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the U.S. RFID Markets for Healthcare -- then send an email to Danielle White -- Corporate Communications at [e-mail] with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, and email. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you via e-mail.

RFID offers tangible returns in a short time span, ensuring smoother operations within healthcare facilities. Though these solutions are promoted as gainful to the clinical community, accounting for the additional expenses for readers and adjoining software is still substantially high. This will continue to be challenge to sale for vendors, as most healthcare facilities today remain financially conservative.

"Investing in an RFID solution for healthcare involves more than one set price per transaction as most of the installations are customized with a wide range of options that match the immediate needs and specifications of the facility under consideration," explains Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Vivek Subramany. "As a result, pricing ranges offered by vendors often have tremendous variance with institutions spending up to even one million dollars on tags and multiple readers."

To overcome this restraint, vendors must work to educate clinicians on the long-term benefits in adopting RFID solutions, both in terms of operational efficiency as well as a definite cost saving metric. The potential to minimize medical errors and the ensuing liability to institutions must also be stressed.

The recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandate requiring bar code automation -- prompted by increasing medication errors and patient deaths -- do RFID vendors face another challenge today? This move can decrease the money allotted for solutions such as RFID within healthcare technology budgets. As vendors look to overcome this hurdle, emphasis on the advantages of RFID's tracking functionality as supplement, rather than replacement to bar code will be essential.

RFID vendors can also target rural and suburban hospitals as well as large group practice facilities since there is negligible saturation in such areas. To benefit from this large market, vendors must work toward raising awareness on the positive aspects of RFID and speeding up adoption levels in smaller community-based hospitals.

"Vendors need to devise an IT implementation strategy to showcase the technology as a solution that is relevant to the needs of the targeted consumers," concludes Subramany.

U.S. RFID Markets for Healthcare, a part of the Healthcare Information Technologies subscription, provides in-depth information on industry infrastructure and clinical integration. The analysis also offers a snapshot of RFID applicability, analyzing equipment management and patient management utiliziation. Interviews are available to the press.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. Its advisory expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities for clients. While serving clientele ranging from virtually every Global 1000 to emerging companies, Frost & Sullivan's comprehensive industry coverage includes a global perspective of all vertical and horizontal industries. Its unique coverage combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com

U.S. RFID Markets for Healthcare

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Keywords in this release: radio frequency identification, RFID, healthcare, multiple readers, tags, tracking, bar code automation, equipment management, research, information, market, trends, technology, service, forecast