Radio Frequency Identification Technology as an Analytical Lens and Solution in Hospitals

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification—an object recognition technology—has been explored by hospitals worldwide in the past decade for inventory management. As this technology became accepted with successful pilots, integrating the technology with other applications within hospitals gained momentum. For this purpose, however, it is necessary to revise existing processes that are impacted by RFID. The standard approach in business process management is to redesign the existing processes to plug-in the technology and implement the new process with the technology. In this chapter, the authors provide a novel perspective in Business Process Redesign and Management that RFID may not only be a technology solution, but also an analytical lens to review the existing processes within hospitals such that existing inconsistencies may be revealed and an opportunity presented to address them.