May 8, 2007
Posted By RFIDblogger |
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RFID As Benefit for Emergency Responders
The RFID Technology Council sponsored an event yesterday on Capitol Hill entitled "RFID and Healthcare: Emergency Preparedness and Response." Anthony McKinney, Director of Public Security at SAP, and Kathleen Carroll, Director of Government Relations at HID Global, were among the panelists. McKinney discussed the desirability of a business process platform enabled by RFID to provide real time awareness to public offcials in times of emergencies. Carroll spoke about technology, smart cards, and lessons learned following 9/11 to authenticate first responders during national disasters. For more information see Tech Daily, May 7, 2007.
E-Government
Tracking Tags Have Pros And Cons In Government
by Michael Martinez
A Democratic senator on Monday said that radio-frequency identification technologies can perform vital functions in the emergency response and health sectors but added that most members of Congress do not know much about them.
At an event hosted by the RFID Technology Council, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said there are legitimate concerns about the tracking technology, particularly with respect to how applications of it may affect personal privacy. But he said RFID applications eventually will be adopted on a wide scale for various purposes.
Dorgan, a co-founder of the Senate RFID Caucus, said radio-tracking applications could be particularly useful in monitoring drug imports, a subject slated for debate in his chamber Monday. Louisiana Republican David Vitter recently introduced a proposal that would require prescription imports to be tagged so they can be tracked electronically. Dorgan also has authored a measure to regulate online medicine sales.
According to Dorgan, "reasonable questions" from people unfamiliar with RFID need to be answered before those people will support its widespread use. He said it is important for RFID advocates to anticipate those questions so that people can learn about the capabilities of the technologies.
Michael Wallace, the director of global serialization at Abbot, said RFID could dramatically improve the efficiency of the health sector and enhance the capability of emergency responders during disasters. But he said it is important to develop standards to facilitate communication across jurisdictions in the health community.
The technologies are going to "sit on the bench" if they are not easy to use, he said.
James Fonger, a former cardiothoracic surgeon at Lenox Hill hospital in New York, said RFID is a "cobblestone" in the much-needed digitization of the American health system. He said most of the technologies that emergency responders and health officials need already are "sitting on the shelf." But he said facilitating widespread adoption of them would not be easy.
Fonger also noted that RFID can help limit the amount of human errors made at health facilities. He said RFID devices could allow the health sector to rely on an automated first layer of safety instead of a human one.
Tracking Tags Have Pros And Cons In Government
by Michael Martinez
A Democratic senator on Monday said that radio-frequency identification technologies can perform vital functions in the emergency response and health sectors but added that most members of Congress do not know much about them.
At an event hosted by the RFID Technology Council, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said there are legitimate concerns about the tracking technology, particularly with respect to how applications of it may affect personal privacy. But he said RFID applications eventually will be adopted on a wide scale for various purposes.
Dorgan, a co-founder of the Senate RFID Caucus, said radio-tracking applications could be particularly useful in monitoring drug imports, a subject slated for debate in his chamber Monday. Louisiana Republican David Vitter recently introduced a proposal that would require prescription imports to be tagged so they can be tracked electronically. Dorgan also has authored a measure to regulate online medicine sales.
According to Dorgan, "reasonable questions" from people unfamiliar with RFID need to be answered before those people will support its widespread use. He said it is important for RFID advocates to anticipate those questions so that people can learn about the capabilities of the technologies.
Michael Wallace, the director of global serialization at Abbot, said RFID could dramatically improve the efficiency of the health sector and enhance the capability of emergency responders during disasters. But he said it is important to develop standards to facilitate communication across jurisdictions in the health community.
The technologies are going to "sit on the bench" if they are not easy to use, he said.
James Fonger, a former cardiothoracic surgeon at Lenox Hill hospital in New York, said RFID is a "cobblestone" in the much-needed digitization of the American health system. He said most of the technologies that emergency responders and health officials need already are "sitting on the shelf." But he said facilitating widespread adoption of them would not be easy.
Fonger also noted that RFID can help limit the amount of human errors made at health facilities. He said RFID devices could allow the health sector to rely on an automated first layer of safety instead of a human one.
Article sourced from National Journal. Thanks to Dan Caprio for the post.
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