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Can RFID Tags Give Generics Companies An Edge?

Fresenius Kabi Adds Radio Frequency-Identification Tags To 24 Products

 
• By Ben Comer

Fresenius Kabi’s decision to add radio frequency-identification (RFID) tags to 24 products used in hospital operating rooms will help the company’s hospital pharmacy customers reduce waste, increase efficiencies and facilitate tighter medication inventory control, executives claim. However, only 10% of US hospitals are currently equipped to scan and process RFID tags, despite larger adoption rates in other industry sectors. COVID-19-related revenue losses may push more hospitals to adopt automated RFID medication management systems to save time and reduce labor costs.

Radio frequency identification technology isometric vector concept with RFID reader or scanner, electromagnetic track tag on cardboard box, mobile app for business delivery, goods shipment tracking
RFID Tags Could Give Generics Companies An Edge • Source: Shutterstock

US hospitals and health systems are a critical customer segment for biopharma companies. But the costs of purchasing specialty products, such as orphan drugs and immunosuppressants, as well as drug shortages and price increases among certain generic products – prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – led one in four hospitals to cut staff between 2015 and 2017, according to a 2019 American Hospital Association (AHA) survey. In 2020, COVID-19 created new havoc on hospital and health system budgets; during the four-month period between March 1 and June 30, American hospitals and health systems lost a total of $202.6bn in revenues, or over $50bn per month, according the AHA. Like many business sectors, hospitals, with decreases in elective procedures and new spending on personal protective equipment, are feeling the pinch.

In many hospitals, medication management, or the process of documenting and tracking drugs and medical supplies from wholesaler delivery, to...

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