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CenTrak, a leading provider of Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) for tracking equipment and people indoors, recently announced that it has installed over 6 million square feet of its market-leading hybrid certainty-based Gen2IR and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system in hospitals and healthcare sites this year. The company has installed 16 facilities with enterprise-wide systems for both asset and people tracking in this year alone.

"The market for healthcare enterprise visibility applications is growing despite the recent downturn in the economy. Hospitals are looking even harder for ways to save money and generate incremental revenue," said Ari Naim, Ph.D., president and CEO of CenTrak. "Our partner community is doing a great job of bringing innovative solutions to the market that are driving demand for CenTrak infrastructure. In fact, we have shipped over 9,000 tags in the last 60 days."

CenTrak's InTouchCare differs from legacy technologies in its combined use of a patented new generation of infrared (Gen2IR) and RFID. Monitors transmit a unique room number using Gen2IR which is received by any tag in that room. The tag communicates the room number and its own unique ID via RF to the InTouchCare Location Server through an antenna using a hospital's existing wired or Wi-Fi network, where it can be accessed in real-time by hospital personnel. Like light, Gen2IR will not pass through walls and it does not suffer from traditional infrared line-of-sight limitations. Therefore, when a tag reads a room number, there are no errors. This is certainty-based RTLS. Battery powered Monitors (over five years of battery life) are positioned where location data is needed including rooms, hallways, even bays. Estimated location based on RF triangulation can be used as a secondary means of location in areas where there is no need for room or sub-room level location data. The Location Server is currently integrated with over 25 market leading Asset Management, Work Flow, Bed Management, and other asset and people tracking applications. Some of the Solution Providers who have announced CenTrak partnerships include GE Healthcare, Intelligent InSites, Patient Care Technology Systems, PeriOptimum, Tagnos and Vixia.

Unlike estimation-based information, certainty-based location data can be used by hospitals to make important decisions, such as when to clean a patient room, and even for automated decisions, such as determining if a patient requires a physician visit if they have not been attended to in a given period of time. Most healthcare workflow improvements can only be realized when the location data is certainty-based.

Installation of InTouchCare is quick and easy. "The CenTrak implementation was complete in a very short period of time. There was no need for in room wiring, and we only needed a network connection for the few antennas, which made for a very fast and non-invasive install. We started in the morning and sooner than I thought possible the system was providing certainty-based room level data," said Hakan Ilkin, Director of Process Improvement at Atlanta's Grady Health System, which deployed CenTrak technology late last year. "We've been able to use the CenTrak data to identify workflow improvement opportunities within Surgical Services. The solution feeds big board screens that display patient status throughout the department."

About CenTrak
CenTrak is a leading provider of precise, adaptable, and cost-effective tracking infrastructure for healthcare facilities. The patented InTouchCare Real Time Location System (RTLS) infrastructure uniquely combines Gen2IR and active RFID technologies to deliver certainty-based or error free data, a requirement for workflow and other important applications. As the only predominantly battery-powered RTLS technology, CenTrak offers a simple and cost effective installation unattainable with legacy solutions. InTouchCare is currently operating in millions of square feet at dozens of world-class healthcare sites in the United States. For more information visit www.centrak.com.

SOURCE: CenTrak