The biomedical directors from Brigham & Women’s Hospital and PinnacleHealth Hospitals shared:

Winning strategies for
a sustainable ROI from
healthcare RTLS

Years into a sustainable ROI for an investment project he led, Michael Fraai at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, talked of the “unintended” uses for RFid – ways to improve the patient experience and staff satisfaction. But he didn’t forget the factors that drove the project initially: “If you’re in a car and a voice can come on and tell you where you are, why couldn’t we find equipment we needed within the enclosed walls of our hospital?”

From PinnacleHealth in Pennsylvania, George Morley spoke of clear hallways, available wheelchairs and staff able to do their jobs more effectively because essential equipment is easy to find. “Search time is a considerable ROI factor to the point that nurse managers today will not accept new equipment without RFid tags.”

Attendees listened for nearly an hour, including a Q&A, from these early adopters of healthcare RTLS, whose hospitals achieved ROI in months and where expanded use pays back daily in:

• reduced asset shrinkage
• fewer rental charges
• faster search time
• increased staff and patient satisfaction

Michael Fraai Director, Biomedical Engineering Brigham & Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and founding member of Partners Healthcare Mr. Fraai and a multi-disciplinary team developed a framework to evaluate ROI for active-RFID asset tracking and the results achieved (15-month initial ROI). more

George Morley Director, Biomedical Engineering PinnacleHealth Hospitals, the leading hospital and healthcare system in Central Pennsylvania. Mr. Morley initiated asset tracking based on a success with patient tracking across perioperative care; his strategy to “tag anything that moves” and how the system paid for itself in the first 12 months. more