From RTLS
pilots to
Enterprise-Wide
Implementation:
Some Lessons
Learned
Veterans Health Administration
(VHA)
Enterprise-Wide Deployment of RTLS
Patients
• 9 Million Veterans
Facilities
• 21 VISNs
– 152 Hospitals
– 1400 Ancillary: CBOCs, CLCs,
Doms, Vet Centers
• 7 CMOPs (Consolidated Mail
Outpatient Pharmacies)
• Over 120 million square feet
Equipment
• More than 3 million assets to be
tracked
• Managing over $5.6 Billion Dollars of
Medical Technology
…the largest direct health care system in America
VA RTLS Organization
National
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VHA RTLS Project Management Office
VA RTLS IT Team
Technology Acquisition Center (TAC)
VHA RTLS Committee and Workgroups
VISN
• VISN RTLS Manager
• Steering Committees and Workgroups
Facility
• Facility POC
• Steering Committees and Workgroups
VA RTLS
Putting infrastructure in place to enable improved quality and efficiencies
Veterans Affairs Initial Applications
Base
Asset Tracking (AT)
Cath Lab Supply
Management (CL)
Temperature
Monitoring (TM)
Sterile Processing
Workflow (SPW)
Instrument
Tracking System
(ITS)
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
People – Steering Committees
Strong Steering Committees are
Essential
• Executive Leadership – Co-Chairs VISN execs
• Representative from each facility
• Multidisciplinary Review and Input
Steer is an action verb
• Charter should reflect the actions of the Committee
• Agenda should include votes for decision, e.g.,
level of standardization, funding approval, etc.
• May need to interact via email in order to provide
timely oversight of the project
• Experiment with the meeting content until you find
the right level of detail to keep the Steering
Committee engaged
Lessons Learned
People – Communication & Education
Education of Key Stakeholders
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Clarify Objectives
Demystify Technology
Document Processes / Map Workflows
Focus on Optimization and Removing Waste
Ask Partners for Demonstrations
Encourage Communication from Existing
Implementations
Lessons Learned
People - Sites
• Site Champion necessary
• Designate a Facility Point of Contact responsible
for coordinating all installation activities
• Every facility has its own culture
• Will organize accordingly
• Ensure the facility leadership knows what needs to
happen
• Steering Committee periodically reports to the
Executive Leadership Council
Lessons Learned
Technology
• Adherence to proper location and method for attaching
tags
• Planning / funding for infrastructure enhancements
• Ensure use case critical areas are included in
implementation (ex. Biomedical Engineering, Warehouse)
• Wiring (power drops) and Wi-Fi must be planned
Lessons Learned
Technology
• Surprisingly large number of refrigerators are difficult
to find for clinical users – locating adds value
• Temperature standardization can be difficult
• Value of monitoring often not seen by clinical user
• Fully integrated, single system is needed
– More intertwined functionality between end user
and administrators than Asset Tracking
– Data model compatibility
Lessons Learned
Process (Cath Lab)
• Accurate Inventory Needed for Configuration
Planning
• Construction May Be Needed
• Hanging Tag Design Improvements
• Optimized Supply Inventory Preparation
• Reduction in Required Inventory
Lessons Learned
Process (SPW)
• Medical Center needs to provide expertise for properly identifying the
Instruments
• Marking Locations Must Be Standardized
• Importance of Quality Control in Marking Process
• Significant learning curve for new tray assembly process
Lessons Learned
Data
Physical Space
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CAD
Drawings
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AEMS/MERS
Eng Space
Accurate/up-to-date CAD drawings
Clean Engineering Space File early
Data Standardization required for analytics
Tools being developed jointly between VA and HP to aid in cleaning up
data
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RTLS Space
Thank You – Questions?