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RFID-Enabled Traceability System for Consignment and High Value Products: A Case Study in the Healthcare Sector

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Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a hospital operating room that evaluated a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)-enabled traceability system for the management of consignment and high value products requiring item level traceability. Results indicate that the traceability system in conjunction with the redesign of replenishment processes facilitates item level traceability, improves financial controls and case costing, upgrades service levels and reduces inventory shrinkage. Other benefits include time saved from non-value-added activities that can be transferred to patient care activities. The solution can be considered (i) as an alternative to RFID-enabled cabinets used in the replenishment of consignment and high value supplies in certain operating rooms, cardiac catheterization laboratories and interventional radiology departments, or (ii) as a complementary solution facilitating the tracking of medical devices removed from RFID-enabled cabinets. In short, the end-to-end traceability of medical products in the healthcare supply chain can be significantly enhanced.

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Abbreviations

ABC:

Activity-based costing

AHRMM:

Association for healthcare resource & materials management

AIDC:

Automatic identification and data capture

ANSI:

American national standards institute

BPR:

Business process reengineering

CHUM:

Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal

CMS:

Clinical management software

EDI:

Electronic data interchange

EMI:

Electromagnetic interference

EPC:

Electronic product code

ERP:

Enterprise resource planning

HF:

High frequency

HIBCC:

Health industry business communications council

HIS:

Hospital information system

IOS:

Inter-organizational system

IT:

Information technology

NPV:

Net present value

OR:

Operating room

RFID:

Radio-frequency identification

ROI:

Return on investment

RTLS:

Real time locating system

RX:

Prescription medication

SCM:

Supply chain management

SGTIN:

Serialized global trade identification number

SKU:

Stock keeping unit

TID:

Tag identifier

TPS:

Toyota production system

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Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to (i) the CHUM for providing access to the field of research and for their time in reviewing the paper, (ii) the team of Logi-D for their immense support in this research and for providing us access to all relevant data to build the business case (iii) the reviewers for their useful comments on the first version of the paper. This article is an updated and extended version of a shorter paper presented at The Fifth International Workshop on RFID Technology—Concepts, Applications, Challenges (IWRT 2011) in Niagara Falls, Canada [43].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), 315, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, Montréal, Québec, H2X 3X2, Canada

    Ygal Bendavid

  2. Université de Sherbrooke, 2500, boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K 2R1, Canada

    Harold Boeck

  3. Logi-D Inc., 5550 des Rossignols Blvd., Laval, Québec, H7L 5W6, Canada

    Richard Philippe

Authors
  1. Ygal Bendavid
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  2. Harold Boeck
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  3. Richard Philippe
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Correspondence to Ygal Bendavid.

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Bendavid, Y., Boeck, H. & Philippe, R. RFID-Enabled Traceability System for Consignment and High Value Products: A Case Study in the Healthcare Sector. J Med Syst 36, 3473–3489 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-011-9804-0

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