1. No category

Bluetooth Low Energy
Mobile/RTLS Location
April 12, 2015
Scott Phillips
Principal, RFID Portfolio
National Facilities Services
Business Information Office
Kaiser Permanente
Learning Objectives
Assuming ubiquitous adoption in Healthcare for RTLS, Passive RFID and
mobile indoor location, understand the future financial requirements.
Increase understanding of the value of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for
mobile and potentially for RTLS location.
Increase understanding of the capabilities required for an enterprise
healthcare location system using BLE.
Kaiser Permanente
7 regions serving 8 states and the District of Columbia
9.9 million members
17,000 physicians; 175,000 employees (including 48,000+
nurses)
38 hospitals (co-located with medical offices)
600+ medical offices
$53 billion annual revenue
$1.8 billion invested in our community
68 years of providing care
Decision: Work with suppliers to embed RTLS tags into medical equipment.
RFID/RTLS Technology Segmentation
Real time location requires utilizing one or more of the below technologies and a
collection of sensors/readers to assist in location determination.
Passive RFID tags
 Inexpensive/disposable (thin form factor)
 Chokepoint location
 Embed within barcode labels
Active RFID tags “RTLS”
 Highest location precision (e.g. bed level)
 Assignable buttons
 Can detect motion, temperature, humidity and falls
Indoor Mobile Location / Wi-Fi Devices
 No tag required – uses the Wi-Fi card
for location triangulation or other sensors (e.g. BLE)
 Near room accuracy unless enhanced with BLE
Global Position System (GPS)
 Outdoor location
 Mobile temperature tracking
Current RFID Use Cases at Kaiser Permanente
1. Active RFID (RTLS)
2. Passive RFID
• Asset Tracking
•
Retained Foreign Objects
• Equipment Maintenance
•
Medication (Pilot)
• Rentals
•
Lab Specimens (Pre-Pilot)
• Temperature Monitoring
Active RFID Tag Adoption
160,000
37 of 38 Hospitals &
337 of 600+ MOBs
140,000
120,000
• Infant Safety
3. Mobile Location
• Patient Activity (Pre-Pilot)
•
Wayfinding (Pre-Pilot)
Implementing
100,000
80,000
Active RFID Geographical Activity
60,000
40,000
Production
20,000
0
Total Asset Tags
~147,000
Temperature Sensors:
~6,000
Wireless Location Coverage:
~32,000,000 Sq Ft
Summary – More Infrastructure x3
Use Case
Today’s Infrastructure
Requirement
Tomorrow’s Infrastructure
Requirement
Sensors Type(s)
Asset Tracking
2-3 meters
Room, bay, alcove, more exact
coordinates and interactions
RTLS
Infant Safety
Unit exit points
Unit exits and beyond
RTLS
Retained Foreign Objects
(RFO)
Proximity/Wand
OR bed level, OR room level,
supply room, supply chain
Passive
Medication
Tray counts
Pharmacy, medication rooms,
patient rooms, en route
Passive
Mobile Indoor Wayfinding
N/A
Enterprise with points of
interest and area triggers
Mobile
(Consumer Wi-Fi, BLE?)
Patient Activity
N/A
Highly accurate distance for
very short walks (e.g. <20’ )
All
Could the Future be Room Level or Better for 3 separate location networks?
If not, what rooms would be excluded?
Room Level RFID Infrastructure x3
Room with multiple sensors and RFID tags
Future hospital floor with room level coverage x3
Room Level Location x3 - Estimated
Location Network
Active RFID / RTLS
Passive RFID
Mobile Location
Coarse Location
Yes
No
Yes
Room Level Location (All)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unit and Building Perimeter (All)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Temperature Monitoring (All)
Yes
Yes
No
~$500K
~$340K
~$150K
~$23K
$23K
~$20K
Financial Approximations
Average Hospital Per Year
•
Room Level or Better Hardware
•
Installation and Support Costs
•
Full Network Infrastructure
•
Ubiquitous Tags (except Mobile)
•
RFID Technology Refresh
Average Medical Office Per Year
•
(same as above)
Option 1: Large Provider Potential Annual
Investment for 3 Location Networks (e.g. 38
hospitals, 600 MOBs)
~$75M+
Option 2: Same Large Provider Annual
Investment with Network consolidation and
embedded RTLS Tags.
~$37M
Note: These are not actuals. This is merely an illustration with rough approximations which includes several assumptions around widespread use
case adoption, coverage requirements, location accuracy and future support costs for all three infrastructures.
Bluetooth Low Energy
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) looks promising for mobile applications.
BLE tags could be used for assets as well.
Mobile Wayfinding Pilot
Objective
Make it simple to navigate to parking,
across campuses and within buildings for
Kaiser Permanente members for mobile
application users.
Requirements for BLE and RTLS
Mobile BLE
Traditional RTLS
 Room and subroom
 (Same)
 1-3 seconds
 (Same)
Reliability
 Smooth user experience
 (Same)
Range
 Adjustable, longer range when needed
 (Similar)
Battery Life
 One full refresh cycle (~4-6 years) for sensors
and tags
 3+ years for tags
Security
 Requires additional application layer security for
use cases that involve more than location.
 Relatively secure if used only for location.
 Expected to be widely available in many
consumer electronics
 Easy to embed; already embedded.
 Proprietary nature increases options for
increased performance (e.g. accuracy);
however, limited adoption is expected as
long as standards don’t evolve.
Mounting Options
 Needs maturity
 Mature
Scalability
 Typically designed for small scale
 Scalable
Interference
 Yes, but largely mitigated.
 Yes, but maturity greatly helps mitigate.
 Variable
Price & Support
 Expected to increase for enterprise
requirements, but still be lower cost than
traditional RTLS.
Accuracy
Latency
Compatibility
Learning Objectives
Assuming ubiquitous adoption in Healthcare for RTLS, Passive RFID and
mobile indoor location, understand the future financial requirements.
Increase understanding of the value of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for
mobile and potentially for RTLS location.
Increase understanding of the capabilities required for an enterprise
healthcare location system using BLE.
Summary / Lessons Learned
If ubiquitous location infrastructures are adopted (x3), the
financial benefits from consolidation are operationally
significant.
A technology approach that results in a single RFID / Location
infrastructure for all use cases which maximizes sensor reuse is
likely to lead to the lowest long term cost. “BLE Beacons” are
an interesting possibility.
Describe requirements that would be important for a hospital
campus deployment using BLE “Enterprise/Healthgrade BLE”.
Single Network + Embedded Tags =
Increased Value and Faster Industry Adoption.