Our February meeting focused on RFID technology. We also heard an updateon the HIMSS conference, and Jim Oakes made a short presentation on the
topic of "convergence."
RFID is an important technology that is increasingly in use in the
commercial world at large and in health care for supply chain management,
patient identification, and tracking of materials and pharmaceuticals.
There are important regulatory implications, and the FDA has let it be
known that it favors the use of this technology to improve patient safety
and health care outcomes. The discussion was led by Jim Oakes of Chrysalis
Health Strategies, and Mark Fehling, recently the Chief Information Officer
of GW Hospital. They described RFID technology and recent developments,
the FDA's perspective, and spoke from a provider/purchaser viewpoint . We
also asked two vendor representatives to present more details on available
products and implementation issues, including Tuomo Rutanen, a vice
president of Ekahau, Inc.
The discussion on convergence related to the challenges of providers makingintegrated buying decisions in a constantly changing product environment.