RFID could improve inventory management for high-cost medications

Hospitals are facing growing pressure to manage expensive medications more efficiently while maintaining accurate inventory records. As specialty and oncology drugs become increasingly costly, knowing exactly what is in stock, where it is stored and when it needs attention is becoming more important.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology can provide healthcare organizations with real-time visibility into medication inventories. Instead of relying primarily on manual counts, pharmacies can use RFID to track individual products as they move through storage and different areas of a health system.

The technology can be particularly useful for high-value medications stored outside the central pharmacy. Specialty drugs may be held in operating rooms, infusion centers, clinics, ambulatory facilities, refrigerated storage and other locations. This can make it difficult for pharmacy teams to maintain an accurate picture of inventory across the organization. (⁠LinkedIn)

RFID can help address this problem by automatically recording the presence and movement of tagged medications. This can make it easier to identify products that are approaching their expiration dates, locate specific lots during a recall and reduce the amount of time staff spend conducting physical inventory checks.

The approach can also help limit medication waste. When pharmacies have better visibility into stock levels and expiration dates, medications approaching expiry can potentially be moved to locations where they are more likely to be used. Real-time inventory information can also help organizations avoid unnecessary purchases and reduce excess stock.

Temperature-sensitive medications present another potential application. RFID-enabled storage can provide visibility into high-value drugs kept in refrigerators, allowing pharmacy teams to monitor inventory without having to repeatedly access the storage area. This can be particularly useful in environments where entering a storage or clean-room area requires additional procedures and protective equipment.

RFID is not intended to replace existing medication-management processes. Rather, it can complement barcode scanning, inventory software and other systems used by hospital pharmacies. Industry standards and interoperability are also important if medication information is to be shared across different systems and locations. Existing pharmacy standards recognize RFID as one component of medication inventory and replenishment systems. (⁠OUP Academic)

As high-cost medications become a larger part of healthcare spending, RFID offers hospitals a way to gain more detailed visibility into inventory while reducing manual work. The technology can help pharmacy teams understand what medications they have, where those medications are located and when action may be required.