Hey Reader, Introduction In today's complex healthcare environments, the orchestration of people, equipment, medications, and supplies represents one of the most significant operational challenges hospitals face. The movement of what is often called "staff and stuff", drives both costs and care quality. While futuristic visions of healthcare often include robots, the reality is that this technology exists today—what's missing is the operational framework to maximize its potential. This is...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, Introduction Location-based services are foundational to automation in healthcare operations, supporting everything from asset tracking to patient flow management. Traditional Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) have dominated this space for years, but a technological revolution is is starting to emerge. Computer vision (CV) isn't just an alternative to conventional location technologies—it's redefining what's possible in spatial awareness and intelligent workflow management. While...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Nobody disputes mobility is an important part of healthcare workflows yet mobile devices are viewed as luxury offered only to a few select resources. Why is this? Part of it is that mobile devices are viewed as "smartphones" that require expensive devices with expensive cellular subscriptions. Another challenge is the difficulty of sharing a fleet of mobile devices that can become lost, stolen or abused. The last and most important item, is the app ecosystem needs to be able to...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, Healthcare's operational transformation often requires looking beyond industry boundaries for proven models of success. Just as Virginia Mason revolutionized their operations by adopting Toyota's quality system, hospitals today can transform their support services through a model inspired by air traffic control. This innovative approach, called Care Traffic Control (CTC), leverages location-based services to orchestrate the complex symphony of hospital logistics. In this model all...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, 📊 Historical Context and Safety Record It hasn't been since 9/11 that the FAA has been in the spotlight like it is right now. The reason it has not been in the spotlight until now is because everything has been working as it should. It wouldn't be in the spotlight now if it wasn't for politics and the most recent incident. We should be celebrating the safety record the FAA has achieved instead of looking for blame. The numbers back this up. In 1990, the accidents per million...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, AI is only as intelligent as the data that is used to train it. In the rush toward AI in healthcare, organizations often overlook the fundamental importance of quality data. While many healthcare systems are playing defense with their AI strategy, success requires active participation and preparation. The key lies not in waiting for the perfect application, but in building a strong foundation with reliable location data that can evolve with our technological capabilities. TLDR:...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Location-based services (LBS) are fundamental to healthcare's digital transformation, yet many implementations fall short of expectations. While some systems even exceed expectations, the lack of consistent patterns creates an atmosphere of mistrust. It's is usually not the fault of the technology, the integrators or the customers. Usually bad outcomes are because the implementation strategy doesn't fit the organization. Too aggressive or too lean and expectations are not met. A...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, When I ask healthcare leaders in surgery, "If you could track anything what would you track first", the answer is almost always the same: the patient. This consistency isn't surprising - patient location is the cornerstone of surgical operations. Outside of surgery it gets more complex because there are countless workflows and metrics across departments and only one patient. Tracking the patient has great value but only if you can get the information to the right people at the...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) represent a significant challenge in hospitals. It became personal for me last year when my father was in the hospital with cancer and we spent two weeks talking more about his MRSA than his cancer surgery. I knew we weren't the only ones frustrated because of HAIs. 📅 One in Thirty One! On a given day 1 in 31 patients will have an HAI. It is costing billions annually and while proper hand hygiene can cut these infections in half, achieving...
5 months ago • 3 min read