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) Asset Tracking Equipment Maintenance Rentals Temperature Monitoring Infant Safety Patient Activity (Pre-Pilot) 2. Passive RFID Retained Foreign Objects Medication (Pilot) Lab Specimens (Pre-Pilot) 3. Mobile Location Wayfinding (Pre-Pilot) 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 Active RFID Tag Adoption 37 of 38 Hospitals & 337 of 600+ MOBs Implementing Active RFID Geographical Activity 80,000 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 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) Option 2: Same Large Provider Annual Investment with Network consolidation and embedded RTLS Tags. ~$500K ~$340K ~$150K ~$23K $23K ~$20K ~$75M+ 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. ~$37M
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 Accuracy Mobile BLE Room and subroom Traditional RTLS (Same) Latency 1-3 seconds (Same) Reliability Smooth user experience (Same) Range Adjustable, longer range when needed (Similar) Battery Life Security Compatibility One full refresh cycle (~4-6 years) for sensors and tags Requires additional application layer security for use cases that involve more than location. Expected to be widely available in many consumer electronics Easy to embed; already embedded. 3+ years for tags Relatively secure if used only for location. 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. Price & Support Expected to increase for enterprise requirements, but still be lower cost than traditional RTLS. Variable
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.