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Tracking systems reduce costs, improve efficiency Asset management applications have been among some of the most successful deployments of RFID technology. The healthcare industry has taken note of the value of these closed-loop systems, and now hospitals are adopting wireless asset tracking in greater numbers. While less than 5% of hospitals have currently deployed this type of asset tracking technology, that number is expected to increase over the next several years. According to ABI Research, RFID systems for asset tracking and real-time location in healthcare will experience a compound annual growth rate of 49% over the next five years, reaching $155 million by 2011. Among the hospitals systems deploying RFID is Emory Healthcare in Georgia, which announced in April that it would implement GE Healthcare's IntelliMotion RFID solution at Emory University Hospital to track infusion pumps. "Our goal is to have a system that more efficiently tracks infusion pumps and identifies the quantity and location of each unit to determine utilization," says Arnold Barros, director of anesthesia services at the hospital. "We also seek to reduce pump rentals to zero while decreasing pump delivery times from a current high of 30 minutes or longer down to ten." A number of technology vendors are now targeting the healthcare space, not just for asset tracking, but also for access control and patient tracking applications. The healthcare industry, which has typically been slow to adopt new technologies, is actually in a good position to deploy wireless tracking because most facilities don't have any entrenched technologies that could complicate the deployment. "The number of technologies available now is much greater than it was in the past," says Mike Liard, research director at ABI. "They can jump right in and get good performance out of a new RFID or real-time location system (RTLS) application, which was not the case a few years ago." "The RFID vendor community is rallying around this because it is a relatively straightforward problem to solve, with a clear payoff," says Patrick Connaughton, senior analyst at Forrester Research. "Other [return on investment] cases for RFID are not so obvious. I spoke with a vendor who provides Wi-Fi active RFID solutions for asset tracking the other day, and last year they had two to three hospital implementations in progress. Now they have almost 30 with a very strong pipeline." Healthcare facilities have deployed a variety of active RFID and Wi-Fi-based systems that utilize existing wireless LAN equipment for equipment tracking. By tracking assets such as IV pumps, wheelchairs, computers and diagnostic equipment, hospitals can improve efficiency and emergency response, and reduce capital expenditures by better utilizing existing assets. "One advantage of this particular technology is that it increases our asset utilization," says Jeff Doran, senior vice president of operations at The Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass., which is also using GE's IntelliMotion system. "With asset tracking, we now have an appropriately-sized inventory in which we can realize year-to-year savings." Different Technologies Available According to ABI, active RFID and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b) systems are currently vying for dominance in this market. However, less than 5% of hospitals use this technology for asset management, so the field is still relatively open. Other technologies, like passive RFID, infra-red, and ultra-wideband systems, are also making some inroads. Harmon Medical and Rehabilitation Hospital in Nevada, for example, is using technology from Exavera Technologies and Patient Care Technology Systems to track 300 clinical and non-clinical assets across its facility. Patient Care Technology's Amelior OR Tracker solution uses wireless ultra-wideband badges worn by patients and attached to equipment. At Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network in Pennsylvania, the Patient Care system goes one step farther, translating interactions between patients, medical staff and equipment into a time-stamped record of a patient's course of treatment. "There is a lot of need for educational efforts around these technologies," says Liard. "You can get easily confused about which technology is best, depending on what you are trying to accomplish." Although Wi-Fi systems leverage existing wireless LAN infrastructure, there is some additional cost associated with installing more access points, and for ongoing calibration and batteries for the tags. RFID systems also require new infrastructure investment. "One of the things that is getting more attention is total cost of ownership," says Liard. "You have to look at battery life, the average cost to acquire the tags, and all of the bells and whistles that you may or may not need." More hospitals are deploying these systems, with new installations announced almost weekly. Wayne Memorial in North Carolina has deployed the RadarFind RTLS solution to help staff locate equipment such as IV pumps, beds, and wheelchairs. The RadarFind system not only provides location data, but also status information (available or in use), which can help administrators track usage trends. The system helped Wayne Memorial save more than $200,000 in new equipment expenditures. The Providence Health center in Waco, Texas, is using a solution from Radianse to track patients, staff, and key equipment, with status updates displayed on plasma-screen monitors. Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., is using an ultra-wideband system from Parco Merged Media, and Spartanburg Regional Medical Center in South Carolina is using an RFID system from McKesson to track 550 intravenous infusion pumps over an 802.11 wireless LAN. The University of California San Diego Medical Center Thornton Hospital recently expanded its deployment of Awarepoint's Real-time Awareness Solution to track more than 400 items across the hospital's 250,000-square-foot facility. The Awarepoint system reduces the amount of infrastructure work involved by eliminating the cables. RFID receivers are simply plugged into electrical sockets to create what the company describes as a "self-healing wireless mesh network." Other facilities hope to expand the use of RFID beyond large assets like wheelchairs. In Germany, Siemens IT Solutions and Services is testing ways to use RFID in the operating room at Munich's Klinikum Rechts der Isar hospital. One project involves tagging sponges and swabs to trace them from storage to final disposal. Staff members will also be scanned during surgeries using an RFID transponder badge. The badge only contains role-based data (such as "surgeon" or "anesthesiologist"), and data would be used to track progress of a surgery, material use, and duration of surgeries. One of the more intriguing systems developed around RFID is Aethon's HOMER asset tracking system and TUG robotic asset delivery and recovery system. HOMER is a single-antenna system that works with active RFID tags and can be integrated into existing asset management software. TUG, on the other hand, is an autonomous mobile robot used to retrieve and deliver items (like medical records and linens) in healthcare settings. Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., is using the robotic system to deliver supplies throughout the hospital, and is leveraging the HOMER infrastructure for asset tracking. Many of the systems currently in use are based on propriety technology, but there are several standardization efforts underway that could potentially affect healthcare applications. The International Standards Organization (ISO) recently ratified a standard for 2.4GHz active RTLS technology that will provide a standard air interface and application programming interface for those systems. WhereNet, an RTLS vendor that has been active in the healthcare market, holds several patents related to the low-frequency air interface. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began investigating a possible unique device identification (UDI) system to track and trace medical devices by manufacturer, make and model. RFID was mentioned as one possible technology that could be used for such a tracking system. Hospital and medical device asset management case studies will be highlighted at the 2008 Asset Management Conference & Expo in February of 2008.
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