CNN Money: In clinical environments, an accurate real-time locating system (RTLS) can do so much more than simply help locate equipment. For more than 20 years, Versus Technology, Inc. (Versus) has devoted its time, energy and resources to developing and supporting RTLS applications that do everything from basic locating to automated patient flow and advanced workflow automation.

With hundreds of happy clients, countless integrations and an expanding partner group, Versus is pleased to showcase the most transformational RTLS applications in existence at this year's Health Information Management Systems Society conference, (HIMSS). You'll find Versus at booth #7949, the Rauland-Borg booth (#5603) and at Microsoft®'s booth (#6733) during exhibit hall hours, with special presentations from Ginger Banks and Steve Willis, both of PeaceHealth, at the Product Pavilion Session on Tuesday, March 2, from 3:15pm-4pm and at the American Hospital Association's booth (#6115) on Monday, March 1 from 4:30pm-5:15pm. These presentations will focus on using the Versus system for situational awareness and improved patient flow.

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TMCnet.com: Patient Care Technology Systems, a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, Inc., has announced that the company’s Amelior Tracker system has been selected by South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center to automatically track and effectively manage physician location and communication inside and outside the hospital.

South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center is a 262-bed facility in Vineland, N.J. To complement and enhance the delivery of responsive, efficient care, the integrated medical campus, which is a part of the South Jersey Healthcare network, is uniquely designed.

The installation will include the Amelior Tracker solution which is a part of the Amelior Enterprise Visibility Suite comprising department to facility-wide software solutions and services designed to more efficiently and safely orchestrate patient care through the real-time visualization of patient flow. The installation is expected to get completed by spring 2010.

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DOT Med News: FORT WAYNE, IN -- EXTENSION, INC. and AeroScout have announced that the two companies have collaborated to develop integrated solutions that combine EXTENSION's VoIP alerting with AeroScout's Healthcare RTLS (Real-Time Location System). AeroScout's core healthcare offerings provide real-time location, status and condition information about assets, patients and staff. EXTENSION, INC. provides an appliance-based software application that aggregates HL7 and web-services data from all HIS and EMR systems, delivers relevant information to mobile devices such as Cisco IP Phones and cell phones and allows recipients to send automated responses via their device. Together, the two companies can provide a more enriched, clinically-relevant tracking and alerting solution integrated with the Cisco Unified Communications platform so that healthcare organizations can improve clinical and operational workflows.

Both AeroScout and EXTENSION provide solutions that leverage healthcare organizations' existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. EXTENSION offers a comprehensive solution suite, including EXTENSION® HealthLocate™ for AeroScout and Cisco that utilizes the entire Cisco Unified Communications platform including Cisco Unified Presence Server for location services. Todd Plesko, CEO of EXTENSION, INC. noted, "EXTENSION can offer an extensive number of interfaces through a single, enterprise appliance. When healthcare institutions implement our solutions they can expect immediate improvements in communications among disparate systems, departments and across their entire organization. We are thrilled to have joined forces with AeroScout as this allows us to provide a solution in the fast-growing healthcare RTLS space with the recognized market leader."

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Fresh News: TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- (Marketwire) -- 02/17/10 -- Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) recently selected Versus Technology, Inc.'s (Versus) Real-time Locating System (RTLS) to advance efficiency and safety within the new Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering emergency department (ED). Though Versus has been providing location-based clinical workflow automation to hospitals and clinics for years, the solution at Ajax and Pickering will be the first of its kind to support Ministry of Health and Long-term Care performance goals. This is especially important to RVHS as Ajax/Pickering undergoes an expansion and expects ED patient volume to surge to 60,000 annual visits.

In 2008, RVHS was one of 23 hospitals selected by the Ontario government to focus on reducing ED wait times. "Efficient patient flow is evidenced to have a positive impact on safety, satisfaction and revenue," explains Darren Micallef, Consultant, HC4Site. "The provincial target wait times are very achievable at 8 hours for complex conditions and 4 hours for minor conditions, but hospitals struggle with identifying roadblocks. Bringing in an expert at patient flow, like Versus, is key to ensuring that the provincial targets are not only achieved, but achieved in a manner that is timely, efficient, intuitive for staff and that complements Rouge Valley's unique processes."

The Versus RTLS solution will be deployed in phases. The first phase will include a Dashboard, with key performance indicators (KPIs) like 'overall length of stay' and 'bed assignment to room' times displayed in real-time. A centrally-located electronic whiteboard (also available at individual workstations) will convey patient location and relevant patient information, like assigned caregivers.

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Earth Times: Andover, MA (PRWEB) December 2, 2009 -- Radianse, the pioneer and a leading provider of healthcare real-time location systems (RTLS), today announced new multi-use tracking tags. Small, sealed and featuring a one-year-battery, the Radianse tags are expected to cost between 10 and 40 cents per use for patient tracking.

"We consistently hear from hospitals that they need a low-cost, long-life and hassle-free tag," said Paul Tessier, a Radianse founder and the company's chief technology officer. "So we committed to a realistic cost model and performance criteria to meet multiple tracking needs. This tag is easy for clinicians to use on patients and equipment, with no battery management issues or need to deal with shells and other annoyance factors."

For patient tracking, there is the reality of the intense wear and tear, particularly in emergency and perioperative care, that can lead to tag inventory shrinkage. When paying just cents per use, hospitals say they are more likely to move forward with patient tracking initiatives, according to Radianse. Patient compliance, which requires comfort and convenience, are also factors. The Radianse tag slips onto a patient-ID band and is smooth, lightweight and water-resistant.

With a rugged design and at half the size and a fraction of the cost of any other tag on the market, the Radianse active-RFID tags are also appropriate for many asset tracking applications. For example, the tag is optimal for tracking rental devices and very small but critical equipment, including sensors, thermometers and telemetry transmitters. Since rental equipment is sometimes returned before tags are removed, a low list price was a must to justify using real-time tracking to manage rental equipment utilization.

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PRWEB: Newtown, PA (PRWEB) November 18, 2009 -- CenTrak, a leading provider of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) for tracking equipment, patients and staff indoors, today announced the release of its new AlerTrak active RFID alarm for hospitals and healthcare facilities. The device notifies hospital personnel via an audible alert if specified people or assets leave or enter a restricted area, providing a valuable new tool for reducing infection spread, patient wandering, and inventory loss.

"A challenge for many hospitals is retention - keeping people and assets where they are supposed to be at all times," said Ari Naim, Ph.D., president and CEO of CenTrak. "AlerTrak actively helps healthcare organizations achieve this goal. For example, the device can be used to create local audible alerts if a quarantined patient leaves a designated area and hospital personnel can be notified immediately to correct the situation. This is especially important right now as the world faces a growing flu pandemic."

Originally developed for patient tag loss prevention, the IT-150 AlerTrak device triggers alerts when hospital-designated tags come within a pre-defined zone. It can be placed at egress and ingress points, or other critical locations. The device can be configured to generate quick audible alerts that can be leveraged by CenTrak solution provider partners.

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PRWEB: Bothell, WA (PRWEB) November 18, 2009 -- One of the many advantages of Sonitor's recently released High Definition Receiver technology is its capability of creating several unique location zones within the same room. It also offers a very simple and non-intrusive five minute per location installation, which includes any required location accuracy fine-tuning for multiple unique locations, such as patient-bed(s), hand sanitation station(s), computers etc., inside the same room.

Sonitor's unique and proven location accuracy performance enables many sub-room location specific RTLS applications beyond asset, patient and workflow visualization that are out of reach by other RTLS or RFID technologies. These applications drive additional ROI through the enabling of automatic alerts or reports related to events such as:
* Caregiver hand-washing compliance. Caregivers will be motivated to sanitize their hands before and after seeing a patient at the bed-side when they know that non-compliance with this rule always will be detected.
* Patient room or bed-side nurse call request cancellation.
* Patient fall-detection. If a patient falls e.g. near their bed or in the bathroom, nearby caregivers can automatically be alerted.
* Contagious disease contact tracking. Outbreak containment is made possible by identifying who or what have been in contact with a contaminated object and at what time.
* Caregiver computer log-on and log-off. The computer log-on process can be accelerated as it will automatically start by the presence an authorized caregiver. Automatic HIPPA compliance is ensured by automatically logging the caregiver off from the computer when he/she steps back from the computer (screen).
* Time-stamped and location specific recording of interaction events in the patient care process, such as patient/caregiver or patient/equipment.

"Location accuracy performance is the hallmark of Sonitor's RTLS technology leadership", said Terje "Terry" Aasen, Sonitor Technologies, Inc's CEO. "Combining the High Definition Receiver technology with plug & play installation simplicity, no risk of electromagnetic interference with other electronic equipment, and no LAN bandwidth burden, the Sonitor RTLS technology enables a truly exceptional and very cost-efficient RTLS experience ", Mr. Aasen continued.

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Marketwire: SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - November 16, 2009) - Awarepoint (www.awarepoint.com) today announced its Real-time Awareness Solution (RTAS) (www.awarepoint.com/solutions.html) at the University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC).

Awarepoint provides a ZigBee-based (www.zigbee.org) real-time awareness and condition sensing network, including real-time location (RTLS) applications and all hardware, software, installation and maintenance. When initially deployed, 1,000 medical equipment items were tagged, including IV pumps, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps, telemetry transmitters, continuous positive air pressure machines (CPAPs), and more. In October 2009, UTMC extended its relationship with Awarepoint to a new three year contract adding 1,500 additional asset tags (www.awarepoint.com/tags.html), including approximately 50 temperature monitoring tags.

Not long ago, a misplaced piece of medical equipment could be the catalyst for a major search. "In a hospital setting, sometimes it's a challenge to find certain mobile pieces of equipment," said Steve Hanenkrath, manager of technology support on Health Science Campus. "There were times my IT staff and staff from central services would lose a few hours of the workday just looking for IV pumps."

The Awarepoint Real-time Awareness Solution applies wireless technology to locate tagged hospital equipment enterprise-wide. Sensors that have been plugged into wall outlets throughout UTMC form a wireless network that pinpoints tagged equipment and transmits its location to an internet site. "The equipment tags talk to the wall sensors," Hanenkrath explained. "The sensors then talk to a router that transmits a message to an asset tracking management Web site."

The result is a system that can track a single piece of equipment to a room and to within three feet of its real-time location anywhere in the enterprise. Pat Nopper, UTMC manager of distribution services, uses the enterprise tracking system every day. "This allows me to make sure patients get the equipment they need as soon as possible," she said. "I can find things immediately from my desk. For instance, we have one piece of equipment we use for bariatric patients. Right away, we know what floor it's on and what room it's in from my desk, instead of searching on foot."

Moving beyond the initial "search and locate" phase of the system, UTMC has worked with Awarepoint's Client Services Team to apply business intelligence rules that provide proactive management of resources. Equipment, Nopper noted, no longer comes back to her department. Instead, it is re-distributed from its last location for more efficiency. The system also has the capability to alert hospital staff when a tagged item moves to a certain point beyond UTMC's perimeter.

Awarepoint's Real-time Awareness Solution aims to streamline clinical processes by having the right resources at staff's fingertips when needed, reduce patients' wait times, more efficiently manage preventive maintenance and recall notices on medical equipment and help UTMC save money.

"Each client is uniquely different but our management strategies are scalable to meet those differences," said Tammy Moore, Vice President of Client Services. Awarepoint account managers continually drive best practices to maximize the value of each client's enterprise awareness infrastructure. "Success is measured by ROI outcomes and through deployment strategies, usage goals, growth and overall client satisfaction."

"The real test of any company's value and customer service comes in having satisfied customers extend and broaden their relationship," said Awarepoint's CEO, Jason Howe. "We look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial relationship for many years."

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theRTLSBlog.com: University Research Concludes Real Time Location Systems Can Transform Hospitals Indiana and Purdue University Research Reveals Cost Savings, Operational Efficiency, Improved Patient Care and Higher Staff Morale

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. and MORRISVILLE, N.C. (November 17, 2009) – Results from the first multidisciplinary university study examining the impact of a Real Time Location System (RTLS) deployed throughout a hospital show that the technology for tracking mobile medical equipment is driving increased operational efficiency and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, while also enabling nurses to spend more time with patients and improve staff morale.

A thorough evaluation of the impact of implementing the RadarFind RTLS at Southeastern Regional Medical Center (SRMC) in Lumberton, N.C. analyzed the system’s influence on the management of equipment support, nursing and patient care, as well as hospital finances. The study results, soon to be published in the Journal of Clinical Engineering, revealed that the technology allowed staff to reduce time spent searching for tagged equipment by 96 percent, saved the hospital $750,000 in indirect costs, and illuminated potential future benefits as the new technology is further integrated into the hospital’s operations and culture.

“The level of data generated by these systems has the potential to profoundly change the management of technology and the delivery of patient care,” said Barbara Christe, the lead researcher for the study team and associate professor and program director of Biomedical Engineering Technology at the joint research campus Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. In 2008, Christe, her colleagues and students received the 2008 Outstanding Management & Technology Paper award from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) for their research on adapting radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to a clinical application.

The research team also included a professor of electrical and computer engineering technology and an associate professor of accounting from the business school. “Southeastern Regional Medical Center is a model for how a clear, cooperative, synergistic relationship between hospital administrators and various clinical staff departments can support the success of a real time location system in meeting stated objectives,” said Christe.

Leveraging real-time data to make hospitals more efficient and improve patient care

SRMC estimates that nurses spent at least one hour per day searching for equipment, resulting in an hour saved for locating tagged equipment since the RadarFind system was installed. On an annual basis for the 120 nurses working at the hospital, the annual indirect savings is $750,000, and nurses are able to spend more time with patients.

Additional savings may be realized from reducing capital expenditures based on using equipment utilization data gathered by the system. During the study, RadarFind representatives demonstrated that utilization data could support a smaller amount of infusion pumps than the hospital was planning to purchase. Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, N.C. (not part of this study)deployed RadarFind in 2006 and was able to reduce a planned infusion pump purchase by 20 percent in less than one year after installation from evaluating the utilization data. This resulted in a capital purchase savings of $276,000 and annual operating cost savings of $27,000.

In surveys and interviews, clinical engineering staff reported that the time spent searching for tagged equipment has been reduced from 4 hours a day to less than 10 minutes. In addition, preventive maintenance compliance rates for tagged equipment have improved from 90 percent monthly to a consistent 100 percent. Nursing staff are also reporting greatly improved hospital efficiency as they are now able to locate previously “hidden” equipment, and reported job satisfaction has risen accordingly.

“As a former nurse I understand the frustration experienced by nursing staff when they must search for equipment,” said Joanne Anderson, president and chief executive officer of SRMC. “This technology supports our nurses and enables them to spend more time caring for patients, ensuring that our patients receive the utmost quality of care and benefitting hospital staff morale.”

RadarFind is the only RTLS to feature a three-state, color-coded status switch on tags to mark equipment as available (green), in-use (yellow) or needs cleaning/decontamination (red). This can be a powerful tool when leveraged as part of a hospital’s infection control procedures. For example, a piece of equipment with a “dirty” status tag may be identified if it is mistakenly placed in a clean storage room. In addition, by analyzing the time-stamped location history of a piece of equipment or patient, data gathered by the RTLS can be used to track an infection in a hospital. Causal relationships between contaminated medical devices and infected patients can also be easily determined.

Wide-ranging potential for future impact

The study identified initiatives that could increase the benefits of RTLS, ranging from eliminating the need for an annual physical inventory to referencing the history of equipment used in each patient room to ensure accuracy when billing a patient or insurance company. Other suggestions included analyzing data to determine where a piece of equipment is most likely to be used in order to develop a better storage plan for those items. An RTLS will undoubtedly help reduce equipment loss due to misplacement or theft.

RadarFind, the only RTLS designed by former doctors and hospital administrators to meet the unique requirements for tracking mobile medical equipment and people in hospitals, was recently acquired by TeleTracking Technologies, Inc., the market leader in patient flow automation. Together, the companies will continue to improve hospital operations by linking information gathered through wireless sensor networks, RTLS and intelligent software to hospital procedures thereby reducing waste and driving more efficient processes for patient care.

“The transformational results attainable by implementing our suite of automated tracking solutions for hospitals are influencing process changes throughout the facility, as evidenced by this study,” said Michael Nelson, president of RadarFind. “The combination of technologies from RadarFind and TeleTracking offers hospitals the most comprehensive answer to the need for tracking and accountability, and reducing unnecessary costs while improving efficiencies and overall patient care.”

About RadarFind

RadarFind’s Real Time Location System uses an innovative wireless sensor network platform for tracking medical equipment and patients that is highly accurate, yet nondisruptive to hospital operations. RadarFind Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TeleTracking Technologies, Inc., a leader in patient flow automation solutions with more than 800 hospital clients in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.teletracking.com or www.radarfind.com.

About IUPUI

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis is Indiana's premier urban university, with 20 schools and academic units which grant degrees in more than 200 programs from both Indiana University and Purdue University. For more information, please visit www.iupui.edu.

About Southeastern Regional Medical Center

Southeastern Regional Medical Center is the hub of a comprehensive health care system in southeastern North Carolina. The not-for-profit, fully-accredited medical center offers the Southeastern Heart Center, managed by Duke University Health System, birthing suites and a combination of acute care, intensive care and psychiatric services to over 13,000 inpatients and 75,000 outpatients annually. For more information, please visit www.srmc.org.

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DOT Med News:
October 26, 2009
by Brendon Nafziger, Writer

The Georgia Tech Research Institute announced plans this month to test whether a common tracking system used in hospitals and warehouses interferes with medical devices.

The Atlanta-based applied research organization is developing protocols for its decade-old medical device testing lab to investigate the effect of radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology on implantable medical devices like defibrillators and pacemakers.

Although RFID is a ubiquitous technology that uses radio waves to track items in hospitals, stores and libraries to monitor inventory and prevent theft, nobody really knows if it has the potential to interfere with sensitive, and lifesaving, devices like implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs).

"There's a potential there for interference," Ralph Herkert, director of GTRI's Medical Device Test Center, tells DOTmed News. "Basically, pacemakers and defibs are monitoring bodily functions, so they have sensing circuitry," he continues. "Any time you have sensing circuitry, you have the possibility for an interfering signal to get there."

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