Choosing the Right Real-Time Location System
Solution for Your Healthcare Organization
Identify potential areas of opportunity and evaluate implementation challenges that will determine the success of your organization's RFID-RTLS initiative
By Robert Konishi
Radio Frequency Identification – Real-Time Location Systems (RFID-RTLS) have emerged to enable healthcare organizations to efficiently identify and track the location, status, and movement of supplies, equipment, patients, and personnel. RFID-RTLS systems can provide this capability in real time and at a level of precision previously unavailable, as a cost-effective operational management tool.
Implementing an RFID-RTLS solution can show immediate benefits from both an ROI and improved workflow process perspective. High cost, frequently searched mobile asset tracking has the potential to provide the benefits of decreased equipment rental and purchase costs, improved utilization of equipment, increased staff productivity, improved quality of patient care, and efficiency of patient care related workflow processes.
But, with a variety of RFID-RTLS solutions currently available, how do you identify potential areas of opportunity that justify an investment in RFID-RTLS and evaluate implementation challenges that will determine the success or failure of an RFID-RTLS initiative for your healthcare organization?
Organizational readiness and critical success factors
Prior to selecting an RFID-RTLS solution, organizations should perform a preliminary assessment of current workflow processes to determine whether the organization is ready to implement RFID-RTLS.
Organizational readiness
Put a focused, multi-disciplinary implementation team of care provider, medical equipment management, operational area, and IT personnel in place.
Identify and quantify the areas that would provide an attractive ROI with implementation of an RFID-RTLS solution. For example, a hospital that has accrued high rental costs to compensate for misplaced equipment, such as infusion pumps, would want to focus their initial ROI goals in that area.
Gain executive level sponsorship to validate the project team's findings and stage the organization to implement the change in organizational workflow processes.
Success factors
To identify preferred RFID-RTLS infrastructure options (802.11, 802.15.4-
ZigBee, Ultrasound, infrared, Ultra-wide band, and other vendor specific solutions), organizations should look at the following factors:
If considering converging the RFID-RTLS service on an existing 802.11 network, review the capacity and operational robustness of the hospital's existing 802.11 wireless infrastructure, as well as the impact of projected RFID-RTLS traffic on other mission critical applications and services.
Analysis of the true capital cost and operational impact to upgrade an existing 802.11 wireless infrastructure to obtain an adequate level of location precision, or to build a new wireless network, with the necessary functionality and building coverage for successful RFID-RTLS services.
The operational impact and timeline associated with the planned implementation methodology. This includes assessing the organization's IT integration architecture and capability, and understanding ongoing site surveys, calibration, and other maintenance that may be required.
If IT resources are required to manage the ongoing operation, assess the priorities and availability of the IT department.
Identifying the best vendor to meet organization objectives
In order to realize the full benefits of implementing an RFID-RTLS solution, it is vital to identify the vendors that are best positioned to collaborate with your organization to overcome implementation and management challenges.
The right vendor will have a track record of implementations that are aligned with your hospital's RFID-RTLS objectives and priorities, and the RFID-RTLS system will be compatible with your organizations infrastructure and business processes. Here are some system attributes to consider:
- Front-end search functionality and back-end reporting capabilities.
- Required location precision.
- RFID tag technology with a competitive form factor, cost, and battery life.
- Compliance with industry standard technical specifications.
- Robust, purpose-built architecture with scaleable, incremental growth capability.
- Effective coexistence with the organization's IT environment.
- Back-end management processes and tools to efficiently maintain system configurations.
Other important attributes to consider:
- Initial capital investment (wireless infrastructure, application servers, and RFID tags).
- System implementation cost (including both organizational and vendor personnel).
- Total cost of ownership for system monitoring, management, and maintenance.
- Impact of the RFID-RTLS infrastructure on the clinical and operational environment.
- Impact of the RFID-RTLS system integration and maintenance on IT personnel.
Methodology for RFID-RTLS assessment: four steps
Step 1: Assess Value
Prior to selecting a vendor, assess the strategic opportunities and quantify the financial value of an investment in RFID-RTLS technology. The organizations that understand and appropriately integrate the following approach into their implementation strategy and plans will be better positioned to realize this strategic advantage. To assess value:
Identify the senior management sponsor and multi-disciplinary implementation-support team
Quantify and document your organization's expected near-term hard and soft-cost savings, and well as improvements in areas such as quality of patient care, patient throughput, and regulatory compliance.
Initially focus on tracking high cost and frequently searched mobile equipment to quickly achieve enhanced operational efficiency and improved patient care.
Target RFID-RTLS vendors that will allow prospective customers to rapidly implement the RFID- RTLS infrastructure. This model allows organizations to test drive the technology, achieve immediate value, and provide the framework for establishing a scalable, enterprise RFID-RTLS capability.
Assess the value and priority of additional strategic opportunities presented by the implementation of RFID-RTLS, including: patient location tracking to monitor patient safety, improve patient-care workflow, bed capacity management, and quality of care; and employee location tracking to improve personnel productivity and operational work-flows for transport, housekeeping, and patient support services personnel.
Step 2: Select vendor partner finalists
The next step is to identify the RFID-RTLS vendor partner(s) that can best meet the organization's strategic, operational, and financial requirements determined in the prior steps. Compatible vendors will offer solutions that are aligned with the hospital's needs, including:
- System functionality that is designed to meet the unique needs of healthcare facilities, as well as the specific needs your organization has identified.
- IT architecture that is compatible with your organization's IT strategy and existing architecture.
- IT architecture that is incrementally scaleable, and that will not interfere with the organization's enterprise level, mission critical services.
- Planning and implementation personnel with expertise that best match to your organization's areas of opportunity.
Step 3: Define cost profile
Once compatible vendors have been identified, quantify the RFID-RTLS project costs, define the implementation effort, and establish the project timeline for each option.
- What will be the required time commitment for internal personnel to develop and implement necessary workflow changes?
- What are the RFID-RTLS vendor's implementation methodology, timeframe, and financial cost model?
- What impact will the RFID-RTLS infrastructure have on the clinical and operational environment?
- What impact will implementation and maintenance of the RFID-RTLS system have on IT personnel and others? This includes wireless network, server, and application monitoring and support.
- What is the RFID-RTLS vendor's acquisition and ownership model?
Step 4: Define the organizational priority
Following assessment of your organization's needs and collection of information from each potential vendor, the RFID-RTLS initiatives can be adequately compared to determine best fit.
By assessing the benefits, cost, and time to implementation, as well as the anticipated impact the RFID-RTLS project will have on each critical area defined by the hospital, the organization can calculate and compare the strategic value and financial return of each option.
Robert Konishi, formerly the Chief Technology Officer at UCLA Medical Center, leads T2 Technology Group LLC, specialists in IT planning for major healthcare organizations. Free copies of Mr. Konishi's complete RFID-RTLS Strategy and Planning Guide can be obtained by e-mailing Xenia Moore at xenia@moorepr.com.
|
