How these health entrepreneurs are using RFID tags to save lives

When Kevin MacDonald saw how much time his wife, a physician, devoted to checking expiration dates on pharmacy kits, he decided to do something about it. The former technical architect at Sun Microsystems spent the next several years devising a solution. He recruited engineer Tim Kress-Spatz to help him invent a new system to track and process pharmacy kits in hospitals. The pair believe they are ready to turn their invention into a commercial product and sell it to hospitals. Investors agree; their company, Kit Check, today closed a $10.4 million first round of funding, which is sizable for a health care startup. The trick is a smart use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.