FirstHealth Calls on Cisco IP Communications to Improve Patient Care, Staff Productivity

March 3, 2005

By Charles Waltner, News@Cisco

Thanks to Internet Protocol (IP) Communications technologies from Cisco Systems, help is now literally a phone call away for the staff and patients of FirstHealth of the Carolinas.

FirstHealth of the Carolinas selected Cisco's IP Communications and wireless technologies to upgrade its aging office phone network, bringing the hospital all-new communications capabilities that are increasing staff productivity, lowering operational costs, and improving patient services.

Most notably, FirstHealth has deployed one of the largest installations to date of Cisco's wireless IP phones. The devices retain all the key functionality of Cisco's standard wired IP handsets but can travel throughout FirstHealth's hospitals while maintaining crystal-clear reception--combining the features of an office phone with the mobility of a cell phone or walkie talkies.

FirstHealth of the Carolinas is a private, non-profit, healthcare provider serving 15 counties in North and South Carolina. The IP phone installation took place at its main facility, The Moore Regional Hospital, a 385-bed acute care center with 160 doctors and a staff of 3,000 in Pinehurst, N.C. FirstHealth also operates the smaller Montgomery Memorial Hospital in Troy, N.C., and the Richmond Memorial Hospital in Rockingham, N.C., as well as eight clinics, seven fitness centers, and emergency medical services in nine counties. The organization has won numerous awards for its cardiovascular and orthopedic services.

Cisco released its Wireless IP Phone 7920G in April 2003. The phone has quickly become a favorite technology for Cisco customers deploying IP-based telephony systems. But because the phones are so new, many customers have only been able to use the devices in limited deployments. FirstHealth's extensive use of the phones since it turned on the system in August, however, is emphatically proving the benefits of Cisco's wireless IP Communications.

"The Cisco wireless IP phones are like having your office on your hip," says Dave Dillehunt, chief information officer with FirstHealth. "It gets rid of all those Batman utility-belt devices like pagers, cell phones and walkie-talkies while letting our staff take advantage all the features they have on a wired office phone, such as personnel directories. Now our staff can reach each other with one call on the wireless IP phones."

FirstHeath is using more than 220 Cisco wireless IP phones to instantly connect its doctors with nurses and other support staff. A network of Cisco Aironet wireless access points support the wireless phones throughout Moore Regional Hospital.

The wireless phones were part of an overhaul of Moore Regional Hospital's internal phone system. In addition to the wireless phones, FirstHealth installed another 1,500 wired IP phones, as well as more than 1000 analog phone "gateways," which allows the digital IP phone network to connect to the conventional phones in patient rooms.

As part of the project, FirstHealth upgraded its existing Cisco-powered data network to provide better support for the IP telephony system. In the process, however, FirstHealth was able to eliminate the redundant network of its previous phone system. Now all phone communications as well as their data traffic run on one, consolidated IP infrastructure, helping save on equipment and maintenance costs.

The project started when FirstHealth realized it needed to upgrade its 15-year-old ROLM-brand PBX phone system. As Dillehunt explains, the existing system had become "problematic at best." Few, if any, vendors supported the archaic phone technology and it was difficult to find parts or hardware. Worst of all, the phone system was beginning to experience occasional outages, which were "completely unacceptable for a hospital providing life-and-death services 24-hours a day," Dillehunt says.

FirstHealth also had been using older 900 MHz wireless phones from another company. But the system could not expand very well, as FirstHealth wanted to bring wireless phones to more of its employees. John Campbell, director of network services for FirstHealth, says the phones were also expensive, both to buy and to service. Campbell says the older phones cost more than $100 each annually to maintain verses $7 per year for Cisco wireless IP phones.

Campbell says the switch to the Cisco IP Communications system has made dramatic improvements in how the hospital's staff communicates. The wireless phones, in particular, let staff reach each other directly without delays. Previously, he says, a nurse would have to page a doctor. The doctor would then have to go to a phone. But by the time a doctor could call back, the nurse often would not be at the original location. Then the doctor would need to page the nurse, and so on.

With the new Cisco wireless IP phones, however, a nurse can simply dial the doctor using the phone's built-in directory (tied into to the IP telephony system) and reach him directly through the phone he's carrying on his hip, basically using the phones like a combination pager, walkie-talkie and cell phone. Unlike cell phones, however, the Cisco wireless IP phones provide quality reception indoors, do not come with per minute fees, and are safe to use around medical equipment.

The bottom line has been that everyone on staff can carry with them all the advantages of an office phone and reach any one else in the building instantly while enjoying the mobile conveniences of cell phones. If the other person is on the line, for example, a caller can easily leave a voice mail. If a staff member is hard to find, the phones also offer paging options.

"Everyone becomes more productive," Campbell says. "And the patients win because we can help them more quickly."

As part of it new Cisco IP Communications system, FirstHealth is also using Cisco Unity, a unified messaging product which integrates with desktop applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes to allow users to listen to email over the phone or check voice messages from the Internet. Dillehunt says the unified messaging capabilities of the IP PBX has made life easier for everyone. FirstHealth employees, for example, can listen to both voice messages and emails while driving to work.

"The benefit of converged messages can't be overstated," he says.

Other advantages gained by FirstHealth include Cisco's innovative power-over-Ethernet technology, which makes it possible to bring electricity to devices such as phones and wireless access points via a data line, eliminating the need for additional electrical outlets.

"It would have been a management nightmare to run additional electrical outlets to those locations," he said. "Given the concerns over flammable gases and other dangers in a hospital, any electrical work is painstaking and expensive."

Campbell estimates FirstHealth is saving $100,000 a year in maintenance, from eliminating the costs of the old PBX and bringing all its communications onto one, IP-based network.

Every day FirstHealth's converged network provides perks. For example, Campbell recently needed to install communications lines into a new lab at the hospital. With the Cisco IP Communications system, he only had to install one cable for both phone and computer services. From that savings, he was able to upgrade to high-bandwidth Category 6 cables from Category 5 cables. The project cost the same as it would have cost if Campbell had to install separate data and phone lines.

Thanks to the success of the new IP Communications system in the Moore Memorial Hospital, FirstHealth has started installing a Cisco IP Communications network at its Richmond Memorial Hospital. Dillehunt says FirstHealth will be able to eliminate long-distance charges for staff phone calls between the two facilities because all the phone calls can travel on the organization's existing wide area network (WAN) data connection.

The success of the Moore Hospital project was aided by DataNet Services, a Cisco Silver Certified Partner in Greensboro, N.C., which installed the system, as well as Cisco's own customer service staff, which provided technical consultation.

"If you are dealing with electronic equipment--especially as an early adopter--there's always some bugs and glitches," Campbell says. "But we never once felt abandoned. Cisco and DataNet stepped up to the plate when we needed help."

And now thanks to its new Cisco IP Communications network, FirstHealth can give better help to the people who need it the most, their patients.

Charles Waltner is a freelance journalist in Oakland, Calif.