Feb 16, 2009About a third of IT-savvy health-care organizations are currently employing real-time location systems (RTLS) to track assets and patients, according to a new study on RTLS use in the United States conducted by KLAS Research, a market and vendor research firm focusing on health care. KLAS estimates, however, that only 5 percent of all U.S. health-care organizations have adopted the technology to date.
During the past six months, the research firm surveyed 122 health-care organizations that it identified as companies progressive in their use of information technology. Steve Van Wagenen, a research director with KLAS who led the research effort, says 35 of respondents (29 percent) indicated they currently use some sort of RTLS system. Of that group, he notes, most are utilizing real-time location systems in a pilot or department-specific application, while only three respondents said their company was performing enterprise-wide tracking. The surveys were conducted via telephone.
What the survey findings reveal, Van Wagenen says, is that RTLS vendors need to spend more time educating the market and showing hospitals how real-time location systems can benefit them. "It still needs to be proven in the minds of many providers," he states.
Broader—but less formal—research, in which KLAS studied reports from vendors and the media regarding RTLS use and revenue, indicates RTLS adoption in the health-care sector overall is even lower, Van Wagenen says, at less than 5 percent of U.S. health-care organizations.
"We wanted to create a reality check and be a resource to health-care providers that want to utilize this technology but aren't really sure where to start," Van Wagenen says of the study. "The number of organizations that was actually doing something was kind of surprising. There seems to be a lack of information and lack of awareness about who the vendors are and what is going on."
Hospitals that currently use real-time location systems, Van Wagenen says, have real advantages, particularly in terms of reducing costs associated with medical devices and other assets, because RTLS enables hospitals to more easily track and locate those assets. Wayne Memorial Hospital, for instance, reported in 2007 that it had saved more than $300,000 in expenses, thanks to an RFID system it uses to track approximately 1,000 medical devices throughout its facility (see At Wayne Memorial, RFID Pays for Itself).
What's more, the adoption rate appears to be growing. In the KLAS survey, 30 to 40 percent of all respondents indicated they expect to purchase RTLS technology within the next one to two years.
"There is a lot of opportunity," Van Wagenen says. "RTLS is already solving problems, and as that becomes more and more documented, then more organizations will be interested in it."
