Fort Hood to RFID-Tag Medical Records

"We spent a lot of time understanding [Fort Hood's records] processes, and the value that an RFID system could bring," Erickson says of the initial pilot. "We were able to show them the capabilities from a technology standpoint, but we talked about scaling up to the full implementation so we could really determine the value."

Now the project has been given the green light, and 3M's labs have begun trying out different passive high-frequency and ultrahigh-frequency tags, including EPC Gen 2 UHF tags and a number of ISO-compliant 13.56 MHz tags. Erickson says the military plans to choose the frequency and standard to be used in August, then begin installing the tags by the fourth quarter of this year. The rest of the RFID infrastructure will be installed in the second quarter of 2007, with the project slated to go live by third quarter 2007.

The RFID tags will replace the bar-code labels now used to track medical records at Fort Hood. Medical personnel presently scan the bar codes with handhelds as files are checked in and out of records rooms, a process that tracks the clinic at which each transaction was carried out. "This provides granular visibility of the records, but only at the facility level," says Erickson. "And it is based on human compliance, so if someone doesn't scan the record when it is received, no one will know where the record went."

An RFID-based system would provide even more granular location information, tracking not only who checked out which file at which clinic, but also to which shelve and record room the file was returned. What's more, readers would be able to locate any records incorrectly filed on the shelves.

Under 3M's guidance, the bar-code labels currently in use will all be converted to RFID labels, after which Fort Hood personnel will affix the tags to files. Each tag will contain a unique ID number associated with an individual patient. Erickson says the Army and 3M have not yet determined where the association will be held—either in Fort Hood's Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA) records management system, or in a standalone database.

Erickson says 3M will "loosely integrate" the RFID system with AHLTA. "We won't be housing any sensitive data in the RFID system," he explains. "We just want to maintain the tracking information of the file, not who the file belongs to."

Ultimately, the system will be able to notify staff members automatically if multiple files belonging to the same patient exist and need to be merged. This can happen when a new file is created for a patient being treated at one clinic if the master medical record for that patient is housed in another location. Several alerting mechanisms are being considered, including e-mail, wireless paging systems and 3M's software Post-it notes, which automatically pop up on computer screens.