Information and Communication Technologies for Development

I am very enthusiastic about participating in the IRD/PATH project. Applying radio-frequency technology in health care is not only novel but also very promising. Our goal is to utilize this technology for patient identification, enabling the health system to provide improved patient care, follow up and treatment. One of my roles in this project will be to act as a medical consultant, focusing on potential problems that might arise from this technology.
As RFID technology and its application to health is very encouraging, we should be cautious when applying it to a sensitive field. For example, we need to be aware of the importance of obtaining thorough informed consent, specifying that health information will be stored electronically in a database and the risks that this implies. The informed consent should also stipulate the purpose and scope of usage of the data that is collected. The latter should only be used for patient care improvement. Another point of caution, as implied above, is to assure that all safety measures are taken to protect patient data from non authorized access, since there will be a “medical record” generated via this technology, and thus confidential. Even though the data won’t be stored in the actual device, we should prevent from anyone using a generic RFID reader to gain access to the remote database.
The fact that anybody can use an RFID reader makes it very important to specifically regulate its usage. This is especially worrisome since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) does not protect RFID devices, because they still do not have any widespread medical significance. Ben Adida exemplified this when wrote that “RFID devices have been described as a kind of license plate for people…A store owner might set up a reader to track frequent customers, linking the unique identifier to the customer record upon first purchase” (1). Although this is unlikely to happen in the population pertaining to this study (0 to 24 months), similar issues of unregulated use of this technology should be anticipated.
Another example of possible problems using this technology is that it has been known to set off anti-theft retail security systems. We wouldn’t want this to happen to the patient’s mothers every time they go for groceries with their babies. Though this is a minor point, it can be easily avoided by making sure that the RFID has a different frequency from the anti-theft systems.
It is also important to know that active (self-powered) RFID devices are not approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for medical use (1). So when implementing this project I intend to use RFID passive devices.
As a medical consultant I will also try to ensure that medical standards such as HL7 or UMLS are maintained throughout the developing process.

1. Levine M, Adida B, Mandl K, Kohane I, Halamka J. What are the benefits and risks of fitting patients with radiofrequency identification devices. PLoS Med. 2007 Nov 27;4(11):e322.