RFID in Healthcare Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Systems & Software, Tags), By Application (Blood, Patient, Pharmaceutical, Asset Tracking), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025

Industry Insights

The global RFID in healthcare market size was valued at USD 2.58 billion in 2018 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 22.4% during the forecast period. This can be attributed to key factors such asrising requirement for reducing operating costs, adoption of Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) in healthcare, and mandates for increasing patient safety. Increasing demand for efficient supply chain management and the number of patient visits to hospitals are also some of the key driving factors.

Integration of RFID enables effective management of inventory, prevention of stock out and overstock situations. These systems enable real-time data management, which leads to prevention of inventory loss and theft. RFID-enabled systems facilitate a better inventory management, where the scope for overstock is less, which thereby improves operational efficiency. In the operating room, RFID tagging of medical devices enables staff to track essential devices used in surgeries with ease and help improve patient safety. 

RFID technology is also used in blood banks, laboratories, and pharmaceutical companies for better workflow management. For instance, in June 2016, a blood bank at Liverpool Hospital (Sydney), adopted a RFID SpaceCode Smart Fridge which was designed to identify RFID-tagged blood products stored in it and to ensure that the blood bags are not used beyond prolonged time out of refrigeration. In addition, this software analyzes the duration of time the blood kept out of refrigeration and alerts the user if the time limit crosses 30 minutes. Increasing need for patient monitoring and growing concerns on patient safety are anticipated to further contribute to the rising adoption of RFID.

Rising sophistication of computers and software in the recent years has significantly decreased errors, assisted in decision making, and provided better care to patients. RFID enables better communication, adequate patient monitoring, patient identification, and patient tracking. This method of tracking aids in reducing medication errors and enhancing patient safety. Hospitals with RFID technology for patient tracking provide wrist bands to the patients with their complete information. These bands hold information about the medical history, treatment regimen, and details of the ailment. The RFID readers and software allow surgeons to understand the background of patients and provide a suitable treatment.

Increasing demand for these systems among medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, biopharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and other life sciences companies to control inventory costs, is expected to boost the market growth during the forecast period. These systems enable organizations manage stock and prevent stock out and overstock situations. They also enable real-time data management to prevent inventory loss and theft. RFID-enabled systems facilitate a better inventory management and improve operational efficiency.

Application Insights

Pharmaceutical tracking segment generated the largest revenue of USD 778.88 million in 2018. Rising adoption of the technology to identify the counterfeit drugs is among the key factors contributing to the growth. Pharmaceutical tracking systems are considered beneficial to organizations, patients, and supply chain partners.

In the recent years, there has been an increase in the proliferation and distribution of counterfeit drugs that pose an increased risk for health hazards. The RFID technology assists in screening and detection of such drugs and help in refraining from the distribution in the market. Furthermore, this technology in pharmaceutical companies helps in inventory management and minimizing the labelling errors. These advantages help reduce the wastes and thereby decreases the unwanted costs incurred.

However, the patient tracking segment is anticipated to witness the highest growth over the forecast period. Patient tracking in large and medium hospitals is a critical process for scheduling operating room and diagnostic room appointments. Tracking the movement of each patient across different sections of hospital using this technology helps reduce the turnaround and waiting time and hence the segment is expected to register the fastest CAGR owing to the associated advantages. Increasing investments by medium and large hospitals is expected to boost the growth. For instance, in 2015, Wayne HealthCare, a hundred-bed hospital in Ohio, U.S., purchased an RFID patient tracking system for better management of patient information.

Product Insights

The tags segment held the largest market share and is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 22.6% over the forecast period. Rising awareness regarding the benefits of these devices is expected to drive the growth. These systems can be used at any location to track and trace different types of assets, thereby enabling easy access to inventory, faster processing, and real-time asset monitoring.

RFID systems is anticipated to hold the largest market share over the forecast period. These systems are generally used for personnel, equipment and inventory tracking in hospitals and other healthcare settings. In addition, these systems are used for patient monitoring and to prevent distribution of counterfeit drugs and devices. Increased focus on streamlining the workflow and rising concerns regarding patient safety are the key factors that can be attributed to largest share of this segment. In addition, increasing penetration of these systems and their ability to integrate with an existing hospital Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software are some other key contributors to the growth of the segment.

Regional Insights

North America held the largest market share of about 45% in 2018, attributed to the key factors, such as rising number of hospitals, increase in regulations for patient safety, and mandates for tracking medical devices. Presence of developed healthcare infrastructure and high adoption of advanced technologies in healthcare are some other factors contributing to the regional growth. U.S. is the largest market in this region, contributed to high adoption of this technology in healthcare services. High awareness regarding the advantages of incorporating RFID coupled with growing concerns regarding the risk of medication errors contribute to the regional growth.

Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR of 24.9% during the forecast period. The region has a large number of pharmaceutical and life science companies with an increasing demand for efficient supply chain management. Rising healthcare expenditure, presence of large pharmaceutical industry, and improving healthcare infrastructure are some of the key factors that can be attributed for to the regional demand. The region has large patient pool with chronic and infectious diseases. Increasing disease burden is expected to boost the demand for efficient healthcare services, thereby contributing to the market growth.

RFID in Healthcare Market Share Insights

Some of the key market players includeLogiTag, CenTrak, SpaceCode, Impinj, Zebra Technologies Corporation, Biolog-id, Terso Solutions, Carinal Health, Mobile Aspects, Tagsys RFID, Pepperl+Fuchs, and metraTec GmbH. New product launches and collaborations are the key strategies adopted by the players to gain competitive edge.

In February 2018, The Terso Solutions and Ingenica Solutions announced their partnership leading to a combination of leading software with leading RFID enabled storage systems. The Terso solutions, automated inventory solution can be integrated with Ingenica’s 360/Atticus. This deal is expected to increase the number of type of products that can be stored and managed in a hospital and other healthcare facilities.

Due to increase in competition in this market, a number of companies are entering into strategic partnerships with software companies to increase the overall product benefit and sustain their market position.

Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2014 to 2025. For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research, Inc. has segmented the global RFID in healthcare market report on the basis of product, application, and region:

• Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

  • Systems & Software

  • Tags

• Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

  • Asset Tracking

  • Patient Tracking

  • Pharmaceutical Tracking

  • Blood Tracking

  • Others

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • Germany

    • U.K.

    • France

    • Italy

    • Spain

    • Russia

  • Asia Pacific

    • Japan

    • China

    • India

    • Singapore

    • South Korea

    • Australia

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

    • Mexico

    • Argentina

  • Middle East & Africa

    • South Africa

    • Saudi Arabia

    • UAE