SAN JOSE, Calif., February 25, 2008 - Cisco® announced today that it has enhanced its Mobility Healthcare portfolio with a set of integrated solutions designed to rapidly improve patient care and staff productivity for healthcare organizations around the globe. The integrated solutions combine Cisco's Unified Wireless Network with new Cisco Compatible Extensions and technology partner offerings in the areas of Mobile Care and Location-Aware services, as well as to Cisco's Secure Wireless foundation, to address the primary concerns of healthcare professionals today.
"Healthcare is, by nature, a mobile environment," said Ben Gibson, Cisco's senior director of mobility solutions. "As medical professionals grapple with the numerous, daily tasks involved in administering patient care, the need for consistent and reliable mobility solutions becomes even more crucial. Cisco strongly believes in addressing this need with a comprehensive, solutions-based approach in contrast to a technology silo view. Our mobility solutions are fully integrated with medical systems and equipment, enabling these professionals to quickly respond, diagnose, collaborate and treat patients at the point of care."
Cisco Mobility Healthcare Solutions Address Key Concerns of Healthcare Providers
Combining Cisco's Unified Wireless Network with Cisco Secure Wireless and healthcare-specific applications for mobile care and location-aware, Cisco is addressing the requirements of healthcare organizations today, allowing them to deploy a medical-grade network that delivers high reliability, security, instant access to information and interactive collaboration. The Cisco approach begins with the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, comprising of Cisco Aironet access points, wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers, the Cisco Wireless Control System, and the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance - the industry's first location solution that tracks thousands of devices from the WLAN infrastructure. These components run over Cisco's Secure Wireless foundation, which extends the network to the point of care without compromising the integrity of business-critical data and applications, and helps ensure compliance with industry regulations. Finally, through the Cisco Compatible Extensions Program and its open application programming interface (API), Cisco teams with partners to enable value-added services in the areas of mobile care and location awareness that operate over the secure network.
Orlando Regional Hospital Takes Mobile Care to the Next Level
Orlando Regional Healthcare is a prime example of how Cisco's healthcare mobility solutions are revolutionizing the healthcare environment. For this private, not-for-profit healthcare provider, which serves nearly two million Central Florida residents and 4,500 international visitors annually, a reliable mobility infrastructure is crucial to the organization's daily operation. The organization maintains eight different facilities, all of which are connected via its Cisco Unified Wireless Network.
According to Orlando Regional's chief technology officer, Alex Veletsos, the Cisco Unified Wireless Network serves physicians, nurses and administrators at each of Orlando Regional's eight facilities while also providing guest access to hospital visitors and private practice physicians working at the hospitals. "Our wireless network truly impacts patient care," said Veletsos. "All of our clinical information, electronic medical records, and even our employee payroll, human resources and purchasing information can be accessed via the wireless network. The network allows our staff to become more efficient and productive, which results in improvements across the board, and most importantly with the care of our patients."
In addition to the wealth of mobility applications already deployed, Orlando's Dr. P. Phillips Hospital is evaluating the Motion Computing® C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) - recently Cisco Compatible Extensions-certified - to allow physicians, nurses and administrators to collaborate seamlessly, throughout the facility while on the go. The Motion C5 MCAs enable these healthcare professionals to quickly capture and access patient data at the point of care and automate important administrative tasks such as scheduling medical exams. "The hope is that the combination of our Cisco Unified Wireless Network and the new Motion C5 devices will dramatically enhance clinical workflow and allow our staff to become even more efficient," Veletsos said. The Motion C5 was designed specifically for clinicians and was developed based on extensive research conducted by Intel Corporation. This research included interviews with healthcare professionals worldwide, including Orlando Regional's chief medical information officer, Dr. Steve Margolis.
New Cisco Compatible Extensions and Technology Partners Deliver Tested and Validated Mobility Solutions for HealthcareInnovative mobile applications like those being used at Orlando Regional Healthcare have resulted, in part, through the Cisco Compatible Extensions Program, which enables the close integration of Cisco's Unified Wireless Network with key third-party equipment and systems. Through this program, Cisco and its partners can help ensure interoperability and the optimized performance required to successfully deploy these solutions in the demanding healthcare environment.
Four new Cisco Compatible Extensions-certified products were announced today:
- MotionTM C5 MCA: In addition to the capabilities that Orlando Regional Healthcare is evaluating to access patient records and important information at the point of care, the C5 also includes radio frequency identification (RFID) and bar code-reading capabilities that are critical for medication administration applications. Using the C5 MCA over the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, nurses can quickly log in to the network using RFID tag-enabled badges, and then scan the bar code on a patient's medication package and the RFID tag in a patient's wristband, to compare the two with a physician's latest orders in the facility's main clinical database. Confirmations or denials are then sent back to the nurse in voice commands and visually on the Motion C5 screen to help ensure that the right medication is delivered to the patient. The device also enables instant access to new, changed or canceled medication orders, and allows staff to collect valuable data as they move through their daily routines.
- Intermec: A new addition to Cisco's Secure Wireless foundation, Intermec's CV30 is a small touch screen laptop for a rugged crash cart that provides healthcare professionals with secure, reliable, instant access to mission-critical scheduling, drug management and inventory information.
- InnerWireless: InnerWireless has already certified PanGoTM products for Cisco's Location-Aware Healthcare Solution through the Cisco Compatible Extensions Program and has now integrated PanGo Vision with Cisco's Unified Wireless IP 7921G phone display. Point-of-care visual access to the location of mobile assets such as medical devices, as well as to patients and caregivers, eliminates the need to return to the nurse stations.
- Socket Mobile: Socket Mobile has gained Cisco Certification for the SoMo 650 Mobile Handheld Computer, and other products with its enhanced Socket Wi-Fi Companion software. To deliver an integrated mobile care solution, the SoMo 650 with a plug-in CompactFlash RFID reader-scan card helps healthcare staff to correctly administer patient medication, quickly access electronic medical records, and track medical equipment. It thereby helps staff improve patient care, gain access to critical information, and manage capital assets. Socket has designed an antibacterial version of the SoMo 650 handheld computer, specifically for the healthcare sector, which it will be demonstrating at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) show this week in Orlando.
In addition to these key partners, Cisco also works with AeroScout for location-aware applications. When used with Cisco's Unified Wireless Network and Wireless Location Appliance, AeroScout's MobileView application and tags now deliver temperature-monitoring capabilities which are critical for proper medication storage and high-quality patient care.
Cisco's Mobility Solutions for Healthcare will be demonstrated this week at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 24-28, in the Cisco booth 6251.
