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In the pressure-lled environment

that dominates the healthcare

industry, hospitals are striving

to improve patient care whilecontrolling costs. The ability to

pursue these seemingly opposite

objectives can be enhanced by op-

timizing the use of medical equip-

ment and automating appropriate

business processes.

Healthcare equipment is con-

stantly on the move as it is shared

among oors, returned for

maintenance and cleaning,

and put back into service.

RF Code and its partners

deliver asset tracking

solutions for healthcare

which automate proce-

dures and increase the

utilization of the as-

sets which contribute

to real-world savings.

We help hospitals improve patient

care and billing accuracy by facili-

tating the real-time management

of medical assets.

With nearly a decade of success

in the development of active RFID

asset tracking solutions, RF Code’s

patented technology has been

deployed at major medical facili-

ties to maximize the utilization

of both owned and leased equip-

ment, optimize patient ow and

enable real-time decision making.

RF Code provides award-winning

technology designed to integrate

easily into today’s healthcare

information management systems.

Our high performance products

operate at 433 MHz and do not in-

terfere with legacy data networks

or medical equipment.

Improving Patient Care

by Optimizing Asset Visibility

RFID ASSET TRACKING and LOCATION

Healthcare

Each year, a typical hospital writes off up to 4% of its inventory as lost, misplaced, broken or otherwise

unaccounted for — an unwelcome set of circumstances

fraught with expense and risk.

Perhaps more signicantly, up to 30% of a facility’s

equipment is not in the active or available pool of 

assets for caregivers to use at any given time. These

operationally invisible assets often grow from common

internal shrinkage issues like hoarding, inappropriate

staging levels, incomplete inventories and misplace-

ments.

Transportation of patients is often inefcient, involv-

ing dispatchers, escorts, and medical staff. Equip-

ment must be located quickly. The problem is more

severe in emergency departments, where patient ow

can create bottlenecks and idle skilled professionals at

high cost.

When preparing for surgery, staff members spend time

searching for equipment, interrupting the planning

processes and keeping patients, staff and specialized

equipment idle.

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RF Code and its healthcare partners offer four specific architectures for tracking and managing healthcare-

related assets. Collectively, they contribute to a scalable, cost-effective solution which is easily upgrade-

able to accommodate facility changes and expansion to new coverage areas. As a solution set, they enablethe migration away from manual procedures and towards new levels of automation and asset visibility.

More Challenges ...

 ASSET TRACKING and LOCATION for HEALTHCARE

As healthcare organizations migrate voice com-

munications and sensitive patient data to wireless

networks, most will discover the value in establish-

ing a separate, dedicated wireless infrastructure

for asset tracking. Avoiding a new data burden on

legacy Wi-Fi networks is a growing concern.

Hoarding of equipment can occur with popular

devices in insufficient quantity. Without asset track-

ing visibility, redundant equipment may need to be

rented even though sufficient inventory is opera-

tional and available in nearby locations. The same

inefficiencies put leased equipment at risk of being

lost or hoarded.

In ZONAL tracking environments, assets are managed in a many-to-one rela-

tionship where each tag is recognized by a single reader which has a defined

coverage area. This method is applied to open areas where location granular-

ity by zone is the key requirement.

The MOBILE tracking option is used to extend the resolution in a coverage

area. In these scenarios, a handheld device featuring an active RFID reader is

used to locate all tagged assets in range or search for a specific item. Mobile

tracking units are optimal for conducting real-time field inventories and iden-

tifying devices which occasionally travel outside of defined zones.

ROOM-level tracking is a cost-effective way to define asset tags that enter

individual rooms through the use of an infrared spotter device. This method

is optimal for patient room-level tracking; giving 100% accurate differentia-

tion from one room to the next (even in rooms which share a wall).

The APPLICATION layer of any RF Code-powered solution leverages the

real-time data generated by its award-winning active RFID product suite. RF

Code’s active RFID tags and readers and complimented by the healthcare

applications developed by its world-class systems integration partners. Thecombined result is a tailored asset tracking system that is flexible, scalable

and seamlessly integrated with legacy healthcare information systems.

RF Code and its partners prescribe the right combination of RF technology and application integration to

deliver optimal results. Our dedicated asset trcaking solutions are flexible, scalable and enterprise class.

9229 Waterford Centre Blvd

Suite 500

Austin, TX 78758

(512) 439.2200 telephone

(877) 969.2828 toll free

sales@rfcode.comCopyright ©2007 RF Code, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright ©2007 RF Code, Inc. All rights reserved.