RTLS and the Healthcare Value Equation

In our very first blogpost, we touched on the Healthcare Value Equation which is Quality of Care times (Revenue divided by Cost) minus Risk. We consider RTLS critical to delivering significant benefits to healthcare: Real-time Location Systems let hospitals focus on providing the best care possible while running an efficient health care organization, thereby "Keeping Everything On-Site, In-Sight", our theme at RFID in Health Care West.

Here are some examples of RTLS and the Health Care Value Equation.

In the today’s on line version of Materials Management in Healthcare, Barbara Majchrowski of ECRI Institute outlines several key use cases for obtaining a return on investment for RTLS in hospitals. The article is titled Real-time locating systems: Measuring the benefits [it first appeared in the June 2010 issue of Materials Management in Health Care]; the subtitle reads "ECRI Institute expert gives a tutorial on key issues to consider when evaluating RTLS for facilities and how to measure return on investment with these systems."

Although Barbara does not specifically call out the hospitals she met with, Awarepoint can confirm that several of our installed hospitals were interviewed. One specific story outlines a patient safety and regulatory benefit sited from UCSD Medical Center:

“Further, several hospitals that we interviewed mentioned the benefits derived when a recall is issued on a pump. One health system related its experiences with an infusion pump recall that required clinical engineering intervention (each pump needed an upgrade). One of the health system's two campuses had installed RTLS while the other had not. The campus without RTLS required a few weeks to complete the recall action, whereas the campus with RTLS only took a few days to complete the recall. The health system considered this a patient safety benefit.”

[Note: see previous post titled Infusion Pumps: Beyond RTLS to Real-time Awareness.]

Awarepoint also just returned from RFID in Healthcare West, held in Hollywood, California on June 15 where Sam Itani, Vice President of San Joaquin Community Hospitals discussed his Successful Deployment of RTLS; Jim Barnes, Director of OR Support Staff UCSF Medical Center reviewed RTLS Asset Management at University of California San Francisco Medical Center; and Scott Sullivan, Business Officer of UCSD Medical Center presented Using RTLS to Overcome Business-Management Challenges in Today's Operating Room.

These Awarepoint RTLS customers outlined their experiences with both clinical and financial outcomes of RTLS in Healthcare and described benefits impacting all aspects of the healthcare value equation: quality of care, cost containment, revenue generation and risk mitigation. These are just a few of the dozens of Awarepoint customer success stories we’ll be publishing over the next few months.

Watch this space for UCSD, UCSF and San Joaquin Hospitals’ PowerPoint presentations next week; and look for a video compilation of some of the key highlights coming soon!