Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services Announces Federal Funding for RFID and Data Warehousing Project

Dayton, OH –Today, Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services (CBC/CTS) announces the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $700,000 in Federal appropriations to help fund CBC/CTS’ RFID and Data Warehousing Project. 

This project involves developing electronic recording of events during tissue graft processing while interfacing with an enhanced tissue management software system and then incorporating RFID (radio frequency identification) tags for the tracking and inventory control of human tissue grafts.  According to David M. Smith, MD, Medical Director of CBC/CTS, “CTS will be on the forefront of new technology for the tissue industry and will be a leader in incorporating RFID into a healthcare organization.”  

Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) was instrumental in securing the funds for this vital project.  This project offers greater efficiency in providing tissue grafts to surgeons and hospitals and creates the first link in RFID tracking of tissue for other healthcare organizations.  Other projected benefits include process tracking and error reduction during the tissue graft manufacturing process, which helps to hold down health care costs.

Smith went on to say, “tissue processing is an area that is in need of automated record collection and electronic storage.” The ability of radio frequency identification (RFID) to seamlessly record the location of products as well as information about how it was processed, special instructions, and expiration dates makes it ideal for use in the medical industry.  RFID tags can store more information than currently used bar code labels.

There are three phases to the project.  In the first phase, Community Tissue Services will develop the software and processes that allow CTS to collect and store information about the processing of tissue grafts in an electronic format.  Phase two develops the data exchange between the system created in phase one and CTS’ tissue computer system.  Phase three incorporates RFID technology in tissue tracking and management.  Each phase is expected to take 10-18 months to complete.

Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, an independent, not-for-profit organization, is ISO 9001:2000 Registered.  Community Blood Center is the sole provider of blood components to the twenty-five hospitals in its fifteen county service area. Community Tissue Services serves the public through recovery, processing and distribution of human tissue donations used for transplantation. Community Tissue Services is one of the five largest tissue banks in the United States, and the largest non-profit provider of skin grafts to surgeons for severe burn patients.  Community Tissue Services is composed of eight regional offices and three satellite offices:  Dayton, Ohio (Corporate Office); Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and Toledo, Ohio.  Satellite locations:  Boise, Idaho, Connersville, Indiana, and Medford, Oregon.
     
For more information about Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, please visit www.cbccts.org.

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