Philips Announces New RFID Asset Tracking Solution
November 16, 2006 – Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) announced today that its Medical Systems division is introducing the Philips asset tracking solution, a turn-key solution used for locating hospital assets and improving efficiencies. Using Wi-Fi based technology by AeroScout Inc., the asset tracking solution is designed around the hospitals' existing 802.11 wireless infrastructure, allowing hospitals to leverage investments they have already made in their wireless technology.
The Philips asset tracking solution is designed around each hospital's specific use cases to help solve problems such as productivity, regulation requirements, utilization, theft, and loss. With an understanding of the unique requirements that the healthcare environment demands, Philips has an advanced solution that can enable hospitals to make facility-wide improvement. The Philips asset tracking solution utilizes technology that includes wireless tags, a location engine, and the MobileView user interface. The tags, which can be attached to most mobile assets, transmit to the hospital?s existing 802.11 infrastructure. This information is fed into the location engine and the asset's position can then be portrayed on a map, or in a table or report format for any networked hospital user.
"Asset tracking addresses many of the perennial problems that modern hospitals face," said Yuval Bar-Gil, CEO of AeroScout. "This solution will enable Philips' customers to optimize their asset utilization, meet JCAHO compliance requirements, and help to improve hospital efficiencies."
The first customer to deploy the Philips asset tracking solution is the University Medical Center (UMC) in Tucson, Ariz. This installation is one of the healthcare industry's largest Wi-Fi-based asset tracking projects, covering eight floors and a million square feet with 2,300 tagged assets in use throughout the hospital. Hospital staff members use the Philips solution to track and manage equipment such as infusion pumps, beds, monitors, wheelchairs and other portable devices.
"While it is an obvious benefit to staff who spend numerous hours searching for equipment, Philips asset tracking solution is so much more than finding equipment," said Tom Kirkland vice president, customer services, for Philips Medical Systems. "With the information that is gathered through the asset tracking solution, asset utilization, work flow efficiencies, and staff productivity can be improved."
"Asset tracking allows users to maximize the resources they have and to make smarter decisions about what they need going forward. Visibility of location and awareness of building trend history over time means both staff satisfaction in the short term and staff efficiencies in the long term," said Kirkland.
The Philips asset tracking solution
A main component of the Philips asset tracking solution is the suite of services to help maximize the solution for the hospital. Services include implementation, maintenance, operational and change management, consulting and extensive end-user support and training.
"We were impressed with Philips project management throughout the entire installation environment," said Jeff Schaefer, Director Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services at the University Medical Center, Tucson Ariz. "Philips understands healthcare environments and respected our unique requirements regarding patient disturbances, infection areas, fire codes and more. Philips worked with our entire staff to design and install the most appropriate solution for our business cases. Their approach to providing a complete solution – not just the technology – has made us confident that we will reach our ROI goals. We plan on expanding the system to include more products next year."
Philips will be showcasing its new asset tracking solution at booth 1929 at the 2006 Radiological Society of North America show, in Chicago from November 26th through December 1st.