Lancaster General implements PeriOptimum and Radianse solution to optimize patient flow in new orthopedic center

Pennsylvania hospital makes orthopedic surgeons more efficient and productive in new facility using real-time workflow and active-RFID patient location

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March 30, 2005 - Lancaster General Hospital is using a real-time workflow-management and patient location solution from industry partners PeriOptimum and Radianse to streamline patient throughput and optimize capacity in its new state-of-the-art Orthopedic Center. The solution integrates Radianse active-RFID location technology into PeriOptimum's PathFinder, a software application that collects patient, equipment and process-tracking data across perioperative care, then distributes the information via a hospital's intranet or the Internet and stores it for analysis.

One of few across the country, the 119,500 square-foot, three-story Orthopedic Center houses 10 operating rooms and 42 inpatient beds dedicated to pre- and post-operative care and a post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). While physician-owned specialty hospitals have proliferated, Lancaster General is unique in building a hospital-owned facility focused on orthopedic services like total joint replacement, arthroscopy, shoulder rotator-cuff and ACL repair. The new center processes between 30 and 40 orthopedic patients a day and expects to perform 9,000 such procedures this year.

Automation improves data access and patient flow

When patients arrive at the center, they are assigned active-RFID location tags that identify where they are in real-time and their surgical status as they move through the perioperative process. The PeriOptimum/Radianse solution replaces an old manual-data-entry system with one that automatically enters the patient data into the network for quick and easy access by caregivers and administrators.

"In today's healthcare, you want staff to focus on patient care-not on clerical tasks," said Stacey Youcis, assistant vice president for musculoskeletal and surgical services at Lancaster General. "From an efficiency standpoint, combining PathFinder with Radianse active-RFID location technology eliminates the time-consuming and unwieldy system of data entry and back-and-forth telephone calls to keep track of patients through the complex phases of surgery. The automated system allows an anesthesiologist or family to immediately tell where the patient is."

Youcis added, "For managers, the data is also extremely valuable because it allows you to evaluate patient flow and efficiency issues."

Radianse integration extends potential for quality and efficiency improvements

PeriOptimum PathFinder was implemented at Lancaster General in 1999 and is operational at three sites: Lancaster General main ORs, Lancaster General Health Campus surgical suites and Lancaster General Women & Babies Hospital. With the solution, Lancaster General has improved OR utilization to more than 85 percent from a previous 50 percent. The hospital was also able to reduce OR turnaround time by eliminating an entire step: the patient holding room. Lancaster General chose to extend PathFinder to the new Orthopedic Center with the integrated Radianse technology.

"Lancaster General shows how a clinical innovator can also rise to being one of the most financially successful hospitals in Pennsylvania," said Hakan Ilkin, founder and executive vice president of PeriOptimum. "By integrating Radianse active-RFID technology with PeriOptimum's PathFinder, the new Orthopedic Center allows Lancaster General to maintain its edge in both clinical quality and efficiency."

Michael Dempsey, chief technology officer of Radianse, said, "ORs provide some of the most critical care and treatment in medicine, as well as a major revenue stream for hospitals. By combining PeriOptimum and Radianse solutions in its new Orthopedic Center, Lancaster General is more effectively using its resources and managing its costs. The hospital is at the forefront of context-sensitive medicine, which uses identity and time-based location data to create the best possible patient experience."

About Lancaster General Hospital

For more than 100 years, Lancaster General has been meeting the healthcare needs of Lancaster County in southeast Pennsylvania. Lancaster General is a hospital and a healthcare system with a reputation for excellence. The winner of numerous national and local awards, 563-bed Lancaster General Hospital employs more than 4,600 people and has more than 470 physicians and surgeons on its active staff. Lancaster General Hospital has won the Solucient Leadership Institute 100 Top Hospitals award for five years from 1997 through 2001 and been recognized by Hospital & Health Networks magazine's Most Wired Award in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. For more information on Lancaster General, visit www.LancasterGeneral.org.

About PeriOptimum

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PeriOptimum provides a broad range of products and services that help hospitals improve surgical throughput. Hospitals and surgicenters use the company's Perioperative Improvement Evaluation (PIE) PathFinder workflow management solution and Surgical Capacity Improvement Program (SCIP) to create predictable and streamlined perioperative environments. The result is increased patient throughput, significantly improved physician, staff and patient satisfaction, and tremendous net revenue gains. For more information, visit www.perioptimum.com.

About Radianse, Inc.

Radianse, Inc., Lawrence, MA, provides indoor positioning solutions (IPS) to track medical equipment, patients and staff, combining active-RFID with a patent-pending location algorithm to deliver the proven accuracy and return on investment hospitals require. Radianse adheres to an open systems approach to location solutions, shunning exclusive arrangements it sees as limiting effectiveness across a healthcare campus. Hospitals in the U.S. and Europe use Radianse solutions to reduce asset shrinkage and excess rentals and improve staff efficiency, resource utilization and overall safety, patient flow and workflow. The Radianse Ready partner certification program provides training, support and warranties to ensure consistently high performance of Radianse location software, active-RFID-tags and LAN- or WiFi-ready receivers.

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