Techniques are described for using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to track patient specimens throughout the collection and analysis of patient specimens. A series of RFID tags may be used to track the specimens starting with the collection of a patient's tissue specimen at a surgery or examination room, through the process of preparing the specimens at a laboratory, to a specialist's office where the specimens are analyzed, and eventually into storage where the left-over specimen materials may be archived. A database may be used to capture unique identifiers for the RFID tags and other information throughout the process.