RFID as the critical factor for superior healthcare delivery

Innovations in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have transformed the manner in which healthcare organizations function. Applications of concepts such as data warehousing and data mining have exponentially increased the amount of information that a healthcare organization has access to. Work flow and associated Internet technologies are being seen as instruments to cut administrative expenses. Specifically designed ICT implementations, such as work flow tools, are being used to automate the electronic paper flow in a managed care operation, thereby cutting administrative expenses (Dwivedi, Bali, & Naguib, 2005, p. 44; Latamore, 1999). These recent innovations in the use of ICT applications in a healthcare context have altered the manner in which healthcare institutions exploit clinical and nonclinical data. The pendulum has shifted from the early 1980s, wherein the emphasis of ICT solutions for healthcare was on storage of data in an electronic medium, the prime objective of which was to allow exploitation of this data at a later point in time. As such, most of the early 1980s ICT applications in healthcare were built to provide support for retrospective information retrieval needs and, in some cases, to analyze the decisions undertaken. Clinical data that was traditionally used in a supportive capacity for historical purposes has today become an opportunity that allows healthcare stakeholders to tackle problems before they arise (Dwivedi et al., 2005).