What is Snap & Go image recognition?

Snap & Go is an easy-to-use system that enables medical product identification and charge capture through image recognition technology . Full UDI information is digitally populated in the hospital’s EMR/ERP/MMIS systems: manufacturer’s name, ref no., batch\lot no., expiration date, and serial number as required by FDA regulations. SNAP&GO™ Patent-protected image recognition technology Snap & Go helps reduce sentinel events by providing safety alerts of expired and recalled items at the point of care, including external inventory. Visual proof of use is documented automatically as part of the charge/data capture process. The platform, powered by AI and machine learning, maintains a daily-updated global manufacturer catalog list database including UDI and UPN raw data, which enables the automatic charting of items used during a procedure. When the system cannot identify an item a remote human back-office team updates the missing information and corrects “bad data” on the fly, to enhance the integrity of items registered in the hospital item master and to provide more than 99% reading accuracy. Relieving the clinical team of time-consuming data entry and obtaining more precise surgery costs means capturing lost revenue through accurate charge-capture, better forecast planning and timely reimbursement.

What is a Kanban system for inventory management in hospitals?

Kanban for Healthcare offers a reliable and efficient supply management method that helps hospital replenish their medical inventory while reducing waste and avoiding counting errors. When the method is applied, RFID technology is incorporated to provide automatic re-order. There is a wide range of solutions that differ in the amount of involvement required by the medical staff. The most autonomous solution is the wireless and smart weighing bin by IDENTI Medical, which offers a portable scale with a digital display that automatically creates an inventory order according to the weight of the items inside the bin.

What is The New GS1 standard for Item Identification?

The GS1 (Global Standards 1) recently adopted a new standard for item identification that permits for the use of one of two methods to obtain GS1 compliance: barcoding or UHF RFID . Several multinational medical suppliers, including Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific, have opted to use UHF RFID and are now in the process of tagging all their products accordingly. IDENTI Medical provides a complete solution for the next generation of Smart Cabinets that includes advanced UHF RFID embedded in the cabinet and a seamless connection to cloud services and business intelligence-based management software, connecting all stakeholders in the medical supply chain.

What is RFID Smart Cabinet for hospitals?

RFID Smart Cabinet for hospitals is an automated inventory system developed to helps cath labs, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, EP labs, orthopedics, plastic surgery, gastro and many more operation rooms with their medical inventory management. The technology tracks at individual item level tagged items stored inside the cabinet, including batch numbers and expiration dates. The most advanced smart cabinets incorporate a new generation of ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID tags that are capable of transmitting longer and can be covered by multiple antennas. This enables every stocked item to be read, no matter the size or placement of the items within the cabinet. TOTAL-SENSE-smart cabinet Specialization in such technology requires in-depth knowledge of RFID technology, its capabilities, and applications. IDENTI Medical is one of a few companies that has managed to provide the high level of accuracy required in the medical sector.

How to capture UDI data?

The UDI system was intended to provide easier traceability of medical devices, reduce safety errors, to fight against falsified devices, and eventually significantly improve the effectiveness of operational inventory management and waste. There are many options to record UDI data in hospitals, but today, many medical centers chose to capture UDI information through image recognition technology. The technology, which is fully utilized in various industries, has proven to be efficient and accurate because it decodes a digital image of the product without the need to rely on external tagging or a limited barcode structure. Hence the technology can pull all the relevant information—manufacturer number, serial number, batch number, expiration date—directly from the product label without human involvement, and to populate all the hospital’s software systems.

What is a healthcare inventory management system?

Healthcare inventory management, or supply chain management is an inclusive term for the group of processes by which healthcare providers are able to perform perpetual inventory tracking, purchases, orders, payments, and more. The main goal in implementing such systems in large and decentralized organizations is the ability to manage medical inventory in a single centralized management software that can synchronize all internal inventory management processes automatically, to save human resources and avoid revenue losses. One of the biggest problems in recent years is the amount of time and effort required from clinical teams. Today the goal is to develop semi-autonomous systems that do not burden the medical staff with these administrative tasks.

Why manage implant and tissue tracking with a smart cabinet?

Smart cabinets are an automatic method for managing medical inventory in healthcare organizations, which enable digital tracking and full transparency of implants, tissue and medical devices. Smart cabinets, which are based on RFID technology, can manage inventory at the item level and therefore becomes the most appropriate method for transitioning into consignment stock management. UHF RFID is the most up-to-date and accurate technology for this task due to its ability to accurately read the tags on the product regardless of the angle, orientation, or type of product.

What is automatic expiry management?

Expiration date management is a protocol which is used to ensure that surgical inventory is safe and proper before being used on a patient. Expired products have the potential to harm or cause detriment to a patient’s health. While the importance of removing expired products and supplies from hospital inventory may seem obvious, 7% to 10% of products expired sit on hospital shelves. Hospitals over the years have tried to address the problem by applying automated expiration date solutions, but the real problem begins when expiring products that were not in the original inventory planning and do not undergo validation reach the operating room theatre—emergencies that require immediate products, products that come directly from the supplier, products taken from other kits are most likely to use expired products. It is therefore important to implement an expiration validity solution that addresses these cases as well. Expiration date management is a problem for many hospitals because they continue to rely on manual processes that slow down their staff and leave too much room for error.

Snap & Go: 2022 Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award for Operating Room Inventory Management Solutions Industry

Or Lomnitz

What’s inside:

Snap&Go is officially an award winner! Find out about our OR utilization tool and the Frost & Sullivan award.

Frost & Sullivan applies a rigorous analytical process to evaluate multiple nominees for each award category before determining the final award recipient. The process involves a detailed evaluation of best practices criteria across two dimensions for each nominated company. IDENTI Medical excels in many of the criteria in the operating room (OR) inventory management solutions space.

Best Practices Criteria for World-Class Performance

The Need for Innovative Inventory Management Solutions in Hospitals

Inventory management in operating and procedural rooms is a significant challenge to hospitals. Most hospitals have OR as their primary revenue source, but many do not document expenditures and device utilization correctly.

For example, in the United States:

Only 48% of implants or consumables are documented or reported, resulting in considerable monetary losses for hospitals.
Hospitals lose nearly $7.7 billion per year due to poor inventory tracking in ORs.

Registered nurses (RN) working in perioperative care usually enter details of OR supplies manually into electronic health records (EHR). As clinical terminologies must match the terminologies in the EHR database, the process becomes time-consuming. RNs perceive managing non-clinical tasks in OR as a burden, with nearly 86% attributing their stress and anxiety to cumbersome documentation.

With RNs having to support doctors and surgeons in the OR, they might neglect to check product expiry and recall history. Improper inventory management can lead to hospital litigations and patient safety issues.

Most hospitals use barcodes for inventory management. However, this system does not capture all point-of-use surgical products such as sutures, staples, screws, and orthopedic implants cannot be barcoded. Moreover, some products may have either no barcode or several attached, making reporting cumbersome. Barcodes also only represent catalog numbers and do not show sufficient data on product expiry or recall in ORs.

Frost & Sullivan believes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions in inventory management can benefit ORs, and that market participants combining hardware encompassing the latest technologies with robust software will witness rapid adoption. A direct-to-cloud data transmission model can also improve security, providing participants with a distinct competitive edge.

Empowering Nurses with SNAP&GO™

IDENTI Medical started off developing radio-frequency identification (RFID) hardware products. In 2017, it separated from LogiTag to position itself as a technology solutions provider in the healthcare industry.

Recognizing the challenges of existing barcode-based solutions in OR inventory management, the company differentiates itself from competing solutions relying on barcode and RFID technology, by offering a revolutionary system that uses image recognition sensors and AI.

SNAP&GO™ is a patented data-capture technology based on AI, ML, and image recognition that allows RNs to take a quick snapshot of assets for efficient inventory documentation and management.

The system converts images into machine-readable data that any hospital system, such as EHR, business intelligence and analytics, enterprise resource planning, and maintenance management information system, can access and use, through the company’s cloud-based AI management software, IDENTIPLATFORM™.

With image recognition technology, SNAP&GO™ captures all unique device identifiers (UDI), including batch or lot number, serial number, expiration date, and manufacturer stock-keeping unit (SKU), and automatically saves them into a patient’s file for future reference. These details are synchronized with hospital and supplier systems to enable seamless compliance with the US Food and Drug Administration’s UDI regulations.

Hospitals also do not need to maintain a database as IDENTIPLATFORM™ stores information on thousands of medical products. With a global SKU catalog, IDENTIPLATFORM™ automatically identifies products requiring replenishment based on SKU and notifies healthcare providers. The platform provides end-users with data analytics for actionable insights.

“Identi Medical’s revolutionary inventory management solution showcases the company’s innovation acumen and proactivity in addressing niche OR challenges that are usually a growing “black hole” for hospitals.”

– Ram Ravi, Industry Analyst

What makes SNAP&GO™ unique, easy to use, and the go-to system for hospitals is its 100% data capture in OR and procedural rooms. By tracking every device at the point of use in the OR, the system prevents revenue loss and inventory overstocking. SNAP&GO™ has been proven to help clients realize a 25% reduction in inventory during the first year of use.

Frost & Sullivan notes that by combining its patented system and autonomous hardware with intelligent software, IDENTI Medical stands out from the competition with its unified solution suite offering flexibility to clients.

Identi Medical’s revolutionary inventory management solution showcases the company’s innovation acumen and proactivity in addressing niche OR challenges that are usually a growing “black hole” for hospitals.

IDENTI has a strong customer base in Europe. Its pilot studies in Israel’s top hospitals are successful in demonstrating the superior data capture and inventory management capabilities of SNAP&GO™, which is gaining market traction across existing and potential customers in Europe and the US.

IDENTI’s clients include leading hospitals, medical providers, device manufacturers, and international logistics companies, such as Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov), Chu Ambroise Paré, American Hospital of Paris, Lindenhofgruppe, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Skytron Corporation, Andau Medical, and DHL.

Frost & Sullivan commends IDENTI Medical for successfully creating a unique, next-generation turnkey solution to overcome inventory management challenges in ORs.

Enhanced Customer Experience through Comprehensive Solutions

Building value directly into its products and solutions, Identi Medical has designed and developed SNAP&GO™ to simplify data collection in ORs. The system eliminates manual errors and the need to train RNs in using barcode technology. The system also frees RNs from the time-consuming, labor-intensive task of entering and tagging data into a database. As part of its inventory management solutions portfolio, the company offers other data-capture products such as an RFID-based smart cabinet, narcotics cabinet, and Kanban and PAR (periodic automatic replenishment) solutions that enable automated tracking and real-time data on assets and consumables. By subscribing to Identi Medical’s solutions, customers can capitalize on a holistic platform comprising hardware, software, database, and connectivity products.

Hospitals lose an estimated average revenue of nearly $2.7 million each year because of poor charge capture in ORs. Identi Medical’s suite of solutions tracks items from smart cabinets, secured narcotics cabinets, and Kanban and PAR systems using RFID to provide real-time information to relevant stakeholders. SNAP&GO™ also documents and tags every item used in the OR efficiently. With all information sent to the cloud-based IDENTIPLATFORM™, stakeholders across the healthcare value chain can easily cross-reference data and identify revenue leakages. Identi Medical comprehensively addresses challenges stakeholders face, making the company an ideal partner that offers substantial cost savings. Identi Medical ensures lean operations and continuous improvement, two factors vital to success in the 21st-century economy. With a vision to make camera-based tracking a norm in healthcare, Identi Medical constantly incorporates technology enhancements in SNAP&GO™.

Identi Medical prioritizes customer-centric innovation in its solutions as evidenced by the patented SNAP&GO™ and IDENTIPLATFORM™ that aim to streamline OR inventory management and overall hospital workflow. In the event of missing, incorrect, or unreadable catalog data on IDENTIPLATFORM™, Identi Medical supports customers with back-office personnel to enter data manually in the platform. With ML algorithms, the platform will match data to a particular SKU.

IDENTI had a successful initial public offering (IPO) in June 2021, which will accelerate its growth trajectory in Europe and the United States. The company enhances its solutions by relying on customer feedback, gauging customers’ reactions to current versions of SNAP&GO™. Its emphasis on customer satisfaction and consistent drive to improve existing product lines contribute to its broad base of elite customers.

In March 2021, Identi Medical secured a four-year deal with UniHA to equip 1,000 hospitals in France with its digital platform. Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) was the first to deploy the technology in three of its largest hospitals.

Frost & Sullivan is impressed with Identi Medical for establishing a foothold in France as the French healthcare market is usually difficult for new providers to penetrate due to considerable entry barriers.

Customers have shared positive reviews of IDENTI’s solutions on the company’s website.

Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, for instance, is a hospital in Israel with more than 500 beds. Before implementing SNAP&GO™, the hospital managed its inventory replenishment workflows manually in all 10 of its ORs and encountered challenges such as stock mismanagement, revenue loss, and increased spending on supplies. The hospital described its ORs as a black hole with no information on inventory. It adopted SNAP&GO™ and took about three days to train all staff to use the new system. The hospital saw improved results through optimized stock replenishment and reduced time and labor.

With healthcare customers at the heart of its solution development, IDENTIMedical is well-positioned to grow in the OR inventory management solutions market. Its innovative solutions and AI management software enable the company to enhance its global presence.

“With healthcare customers at the heart of its solution development, Identi Medical is well-positioned to grow in the OR inventory management solutions market. Its innovative solutions and AI management software enable the company to enhance its global presence.”

– Ram Ravi, Industry Analyst

Snap & Go as Best Practice for World-Class Performance

Hospital ORs with mismanaged inventory result in significant monetary losses, litigations, and patient safety issues. Hospitals using manual methods to track inventory and manage stock replenishments are awash in operational inefficiencies. Identi Medical addresses OR inventory management challenges by simplifying and streamlining the process with SNAP&GO™ and IDENTIPLATFORM™.

Unlike barcode-based solutions that do not capture all relevant data, SNAP&GO™ obtains all data on surgical implants and consumables used at the point of use. RNs can quickly scan each product using the system and leave the rest to the cloud-based AI management platform. Identi Medical’s platform also offers data analytics, providing hospital management with actionable insights.

With its outstanding commitment to innovation, Identi Medical earns Frost & Sullivan’s 2022 European New Product Innovation Award in the OR inventory management solutions industry.

Identi Medical addresses OR inventory management challenges by simplifying and streamlining the process with SNAP&GO™

What You Need to Know about the New Product Innovation Recognition

Frost & Sullivan’s New Product Innovation Award recognizes the company that offers a new product or solution that uniquely addresses key customer challenges.

Best Practices Award Analysis
For the New Product Innovation Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated the criteria listed below.

New Product Attributes

Match to Needs: Customer needs directly influence and inspire product design and positioning
Reliability: Product consistently meets or exceeds customer performance expectations
Quality: Product offers best-in-class quality with a full complement of features and functionality
Positioning: Product serves a unique, unmet need that competitors cannot easily replicate
Design: Product features an innovative design that enhances both visual appeal and ease of use

Customer Impact

Price/Performance Value: Products or services provide the best value for the price compared to similar market offerings
Customer Purchase Experience: Quality of the purchase experience assures customers that they are buying the optimal solution for addressing their unique needs and constraints
Customer Ownership Experience: Customers proudly own the company’s product or service and have a positive experience throughout the life of the product or service
Customer Service Experience: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and high quality.
Brand Equity: Customers perceive the brand positively and exhibit high brand loyalty

Congratulations! Snap & Go: 2022 Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award The European Operating Room Inventory Management Solutions Industry

Frost & Sullivan is proud to present Identi Medical with this year’s Best Practices New Product Innovation Award in the European operating room inventory management solutions industry.

*Identi Medical is well-positioned to grow in the OR inventory management solutions market.*

Frost & Sullivan’s global team of Growth Pipeline experts continually identifies and evaluates growth opportunities across multiple industries, technologies, and regions of the world. As part of this ongoing effort, we identify companies that consistently develop growth strategies based on a visionary understanding of the future and effectively address new challenges and opportunities. This approach involves the deployment of best practices and strategic analytics across a value chain. Against this backdrop, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Identi Medical for its valuable achievement.

Frost & Sullivan reserves this recognition for companies at the forefront of innovation and growth in their respective industries. These companies consolidate their leadership positions by innovating and creating new products, solutions, and services that meet ever-evolving customer needs. By strategically broadening their product portfolios, leading companies advance the overall market. Driving innovation and growth is a difficult task made even harder by the strategic imperatives forcing change today, such as disruptive technologies, value chain compression, industry convergence, and new business models. In this context, Identi Medical’s recognition signifies an even greater accomplishment.

Moreover, this recognition is the result of many individuals (employees, customers, partners, and investors) making critical decisions every day to support the organization and contribute to its future. Frost & Sullivan enthusiastically acknowledges and celebrates their contributions.

Once again, congratulations on your accomplishments. We wish you great success!

Sincerely,

Darrell Huntsman
Chief Executive Officer
Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan is proud to present Identi Medical with this year’s Best Practices New Product Innovation Award in the European operating room inventory management solutions industry.

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About the author

Or is the Head of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships. She has a wealth of experience in the health–tech sector. Her innovative marketing strategies have successfully driven IDENTI’s growth in multiple worldwide markets. Her strength is the ability to identify what truly resonates within the industry. She is passionate about building relationships and her expertise lies in creating meaningful partnerships with healthcare providers, distributors, and suppliers..