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Virtua Implements Bed, Patient, and Asset Tracking System to Optimize Care Delivery and Drive Net Cost Savings
Virtua is a comprehensive multi-hospital healthcare system headquartered in Marlton, NJ with more than 36 care sites and four hospitals. A non-profit organization, Virtua employs 8,400 clinical and administrative personnel, and approximately 1,800 physicians serve as medical staff members. Virtua has distinguished itself as one of the first Six Sigma organizations in healthcare and as an early adopter of clinical and digital technologies. It has been honored twice with the New Jersey Governor's award for Clinical Excellence and recognized with the Leadership Award for Outstanding Achievement by Voluntary Hospitals of America.
Virtua
Maria Foschi, Assistant VP, IT
“Virtua implemented the GE AgileTrac bed, patient, and asset tracking technology in an effort to streamline workflows and patient flows and improve the use of our assets. Aspen Advisors was key to ensuring that our physicians, clinicians, and business leaders had a seamless experience in the implementation of our new processes.”
THE CHALLENGE
Virtua had performed numerous Six Sigma projects around the organization’s bed, patient, and asset tracking system and processes. As part of those initiatives, it was determined that processes could be further streamlined and an automated system was needed to track those processes and data points. Virtua selected the GE AgileTrac system, which is a combination of an RFID tracking technology and a configurable workflow and asset, bed, and patient tracking management application. The implementation of this technology was on the critical path for the opening of a replacement facility for its Voorhees hospital, which was scheduled to open in May 2011. Virtua wanted to ensure that the technology was live at the new hospital before it opened – keeping in line with its focus on continued process improvements to enhance the patient care experience and digitize the healthcare system for the future.
THE SOLUTION
Virtua worked in partnership with Aspen Advisors to provide implementation management and support for the design, build, and deployment of the GE AgileTrac bed, patient, and asset tracking program. Specific outcomes included:
- Developing an overall program roadmap and managing the implementation phases;
- Drafting, socializing, implementing, and managing an enterprise program organization and governance model;
- Building a sustainable foundation and strategy for developing the AgileTrac functionality and key Virtua processes for asset, bed, and patient tracking and management for the Virtua enterprise;
- Helping drive and create a bed flow, asset, and patient tracking process engineering framework in conjunction with GE to ensure the processes drove the system implementation;
- Leading the planning, design, configuration, and deployment of the GE AgileTrac system;
- Leading the creation of web-based training and classroom training curriculum;
- Creating a unique testing environment to simulate real-time patient flow and asset tracking with a cutting edge technology; and
- Identifying and resolving program issues and changes.
THE RESULTS
The GE AgileTrac asset management technology was successfully deployed at the Voorhees facility well in advance of the new replacement facility opening in May 2011. The patient flow and bed tracking components are slated to be deployed in December 2011. Currently, Virtua is able to track non clinical and clinical assets and is soon slated to track patients and beds in real-time. This enables Virtua to alert changes in status and take prompt actions to keep the critical asset and patient workflows moving. Virtua now has asset utilization metrics to improve resource utilization and business outcomes. There are 2,100 assets currently under management, 3,000 users have been trained, and Virtua has already benefitted from a reduction in time spent searching for equipment as well as improving turnaround time on biomedical maintenance.
