AMR to Deploy Wireless Gateway in 4,000 Ambulances
American Medical Response plans to equip 4,000 ambulances with
a wireless network gateway from In Motion Technology. AMR will use the onBoard Mobile Gateway 1000 technology
to enable Internet access from its ambulances in the field.
The gateway provides a managed platform for integrating wireless
devices (basically monitor/defibs) used by AMR's ambulance crews. The
gateway connects 802.11b/g wireless medical devices to cellular
networks. The gateway can support multiple wireless devices and manages
security and authentication of devices connecting to the gateway.
American Medical Response hopes to use the onBoard Mobile
Gateway to facilitate the transfer of patient information from an
ambulance to a hospital. Initially, it will use the technology to
transfer GPS location data from ambulances to its centralized dispatch
office to track the vehicles.
“Hopes” is the operative word here. Current monitor/defibs include
their own connectivity to cellular networks and may not be easily
reconfigured to use the gateway. (Of course the promise of a 4,000 unit
order could engender a certain flexibility on the part of vendors.)
Existing wirelessly enabled devices using 802.11b/g, like those used in
hospitals, could connect to the gateway. Welch Allyn sells ruggedized patient monitors into AMR's market, but their wireless monitors currently use 802.11 FH.
From an enterprise IT management perspective, this is definitely the
right move for AMR. It's just going to take a while for the vendors to
catch up.
[Hat tip Mobile Health Data]
UPDATE: Here's an example of a wireless ambulance application, a trail that's being done in Cincinnati.
While they make it sound like this is the first time a deployment like
this has been done, it's not. Also note the $365,000 study costs. One
of the barriers to implementing this is the need to buy all new
monitor/defibs that have the wireless capability. Given that most
ambulances serve multiple hospitals, it's usually difficult for a
single hospital to justify this expense.
UPDATE: And here's another wireless EMS application.
PCTS to Acquire nuMedica
Patient Care Technology Systems announced that it plans to acquire the paper charting
division of nuMedica Inc. nuMedica markets formED, an emergency
department documentation system featuring 100 compliant or
procedure-specific charting templates. The templates use a consistent
layout and can be customized to individual emergency department
requirements.
Patient Care Technology Systems, develops and sells the AmeliorED
emergency department information system, which includes the
AmeliorEDTracker radio frequency identification-based tracking system. PCTS acquired the RFID technology in December after purchasing it from
Healthcare I.T. Inc.
New RFID Market Studies
Irish market research firm Research and Markets has released a new study
on the RFID market in health care. The €1,386.00 report outlines
drivers and barriers to mass market RFID adoption. It even “uncovers
the RFID value chain and its players,” which sounds very important.
This report seems to offer more of a high level market overview, which contrasts with a recently announced study coming out from Spyglass Consulting.
Trends in RFID is scheduled to be released by Gregg Malkary of
Spyglass in August. Gregg's reports offer detailed views at the current
state of new technology adoption in hospitals, and this RFID study is
no exception. Here are some teaser findings from the study.
- HCOs are investing in RFID today better
understand the viability of the technology and to figure out how to
leverage RFID to solve real problems within their organizations - Active solutions are propelling growth in RFID in healthcare
with hospitals primarily deploying active rather than passive RFID
solutions for tracking assets and patients. With RFIDs, hospitals are
achieving a compelling ROI to help increase operational efficiency and
improve the quality of care. - Passive RFID solutions lack a compelling business case.
Hospitals are having difficulties identifying a compelling business
case to justify an investment in passive RFID for patient safety and
inventory/supply chain management solutions. - RFID solutions are not ready for large-scale, enterprise-wide deployment
due to hospital concerns about network infrastructure, network
scalability, application availability, and systems integration
complexities.
At about the same price as the Research and Markets report, the
Spyglass report is 3 times the size and appears to offer more detailed
insights into why hospitals are buying RFID (or not), and resulting
outcomes.
[Hat tip Mobile Health Data]
Patient Flow Optimization Case Study
Trustee magazine tells the tale of patient flow improvement at Lehigh
Valley Hospital and Health Network. The main symptom of problems were
backups in the ED and diversions. Here's what they did to improve
patient throughput:
- A “find-a-bed” team converted offices, waiting rooms and storage areas into space for 70 new patient beds
- An eight-bed express admission unit was
opened that allows non-urgent care patients to be directly admitted,
bypassing the ED completely. Physician admission orders are either sent
electronically through a CPOE system, or in writing with the patient - A short-stay unit was opened to address a
12.6 percent growth in surgical cases, shifting selected cases to
another LVHHN campus that had an active ambulatory surgery unit - The discharge process was dismantled and
“stitched together” as a new patient logistics function that took
control of all discharge and allied functions, including patient
transport, intrahospital transfer, bed cleaning, discharge reporting
and centralized ambulance transport (this included implementing a patient flow software application)
Here's a summary of results:
- Capacity averages an optimal 85 percent, despite an increase of 4,500 admissions over the past two years
- Bed turnaround time has dropped from 284 minutes to about 62 minutes (and with 100 discharges per day, this was important)
- 150 percent more patients are admitted each
month through the Transfer Center, where specially trained critical
care nurses take urgent patient transport calls from referring
hospitals and coordinate transport and admission to LVHHN - Express admissions have increased by more than 50 percent
- Short-stay hospital volume has increased steadily
- Ambulance diversions were reduced 345 hours in 2004
- Average length of stay in the ED decreased by nearly an hour, from 236 to 181 minutes
- Patients are seen in the ED 30 minutes faster
- Patient satisfaction with the ED is now in the 97th percentile of national rankings
- Employee satisfaction has soared. In 2004,
LVHHN was ranked the top hospital among the Best Places to Work in
Pennsylvania, and named the second Best Place to Work among larger
employers statewide by the Team Pennsylvania Foundation
There's lots more in the article, so read the whole thing.
Study Reports Echo Lab Growth and Automation
IMV, new owner of AuntMinnie.com, published a new study on the echo ultrasound market.
budgets for both contrast agents and equipment increasing. Nearly half
of the echo labs are improving their current capability, either by
adding new units, replacing old, or updating their current systems. In
addition, echo sites are expanding their use of networks to transmit
images to multiple locations, including within the lab, and to other
departments and facilities. From 1999 to now, the proportion of echo
sites with networks grew from 6% to 26%. This includes networks
installed by vendors that provide echo equipment, cardiology PACS or
dedicated networks.”
