Medxcel Joins FirstNet
By Roxanne Squires
INDIANAPOLIS — Medxcel is connecting its emergency management teams to FirstNet — public safety’s dedicated communications platform. This tech upgrade allows Medxcel to equip eligible hospital personnel with new capabilities and reliable wireless access to critical information, so they can better serve patients at its facilities across the country.
Medxcel serves healthcare organizations nationwide with an approach that fully integrates facilities management, emergency management and compliance to ensure a safe healing environment 24/7. Adopting the FirstNet communications platform will minimize the common roadblock of communication challenges during emergency or disaster events, helping Medxcel’s emergency management teams to seamlessly implement emergency preparedness plans during a disaster.
“Providing emergency management to 161 hospitals across 21 states requires us to make sure we have the best communication systems available,” said Scott Cormier, vice president of Emergency Management, Environment of Care and Safety, Medxcel. “FirstNet gives us the reliability to help maintain communications during disasters, so our teams can coordinate patient needs while also staying in close contact with our first responder partners to prep for in-bound care.”
FirstNet is designed to improve communications across public safety entities nationwide – including emergency management teams and hospital personnel. This allows first responders, including emergency management teams, to easily and quickly communicate with one another during everyday situations, big events or emergencies. Medxcel’s emergency management teams across all 161 hospitals are now equipped with FirstNet to help create clear lines of communication between emergency management teams, eligible hospital personnel and first responders in the field.
The decision to join FirstNet follows Medxcel’s use of the technology during Hurricane Michael in October 2018. “The communications infrastructure in Gulf County, FL was devastated,” states Cormier, “but with FirstNet technology and resources from our communication partners, we were able to keep our hospital and physician practices open to serve our communities. There were two other hospitals in the region who made the decision to close, which meant keeping our hospitals open was vital to the recovery of our neighborhoods.”
FirstNet is being built with AT&T in public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority). It’s designed with and for public safety and emergency management teams to give them the modern communications tools they need to keep themselves and those they serve safer.
“We’re honored that Medxcel chose FirstNet to further elevate their communications capabilities and help ensure they can perform at the highest levels during emergency events,” said Maria Lensing, vice president of Global Healthcare Solutions – AT&T Business. “We’re privileged to play a part in fueling transformation in healthcare through technology and provide a connectivity platform with unmatched capabilities like FirstNet. And we applaud Medxcel for helping to lead the way.”
“FirstNet is the exclusive communications platform built with AT&T for public safety, inspired by public safety – there is no substitution for this network that they fought for,” said Edward Parkinson, Acting CEO, FirstNet Authority. “We look forward to supporting Medxcel and all of their client healthcare organizations’ emergency management communities with FirstNet, making sure it delivers what they need, when they need it.”