Caption: HubSens 5.0 is fully compatible with PrismUI, Actall’s browser-based administration tool, which enables site personnel to manage devices, generate reports, configure alarms and notifications, and integrate with I/O and facility management systems — delivering a rich ecosystem for operational continuity and future system expansion. | Photo Credit (all): Courtesy of Actall
By Lindsey Coulter
Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) play a critical role in healthcare facilities. Healthcare providers across the sector rely on the technology, which provides the real-time location of objects, people, or assets within a specific area via tags, sensors and software. These systems are an important component to promoting staff safety, asset management and operational efficiency.
Thousands of health systems employees worldwide relied specifically upon Bosch RTLS (Security Escort) technology for their staff safety solution. However, the company’s unexpected exit from the market left facilities with significant investments in hardware tied to software that was designed for now-unsupported versions of Windows. Actall, a Denver-based company already known for its RTLS work in corrections and behavioral health, has responded to this need by developing a solution that helps Security Escort users extend the life of existing Bosch systems while modernizing for the future.
Actall’s HubSens 5.0 Fills the Gap
When Bosch announced the end of life of the Security Escort product line, many health care facilities suddenly found themselves with the difficult choice of replacing their system in the near term or buying additional hardware to ‘extend’ the life of their safety system, even for a short period of time. Even with reserves of new hardware, the Security Escort software was only designed to run on Windows 8 (or Server 2012), both of which were quickly approaching their own end of support.
“That left providers with field equipment that is still functional, tags that are in short supply, and a software package that was not designed to run outside of older versions of Windows. That’s the problem that Actall is addressing,” explained Bob Hampe, Actall’s President and CEO.
After interviewing Bosch clients, Actall has invested the past year engineering a specific solution to extend Bosch installations. In June, the company announced that HubSens 5.0, the latest version of its real-time location engine, now contained support for Bosch Security Escort field hardware. This solution enables control, telemetry and location processing and publishes results using the existing Bosch Security Escort remote control protocol. HubSens 5.0 was developed after lengthy interviews with Security Escort installations to determine their pain points and triage that listing into real priorities.
“Actall’s approach to create a hybrid system that can integrate with the existing Escort hardware and expand with the new Actall devices is unprecedented for the industry with regards to supporting existing customers and their budget,” said Greg Cliff, Senior Project Manager and Engineer with CHA. “This unique approach will allow customers to utilize their investment of their system and evolve into the new Actall platform as their system expansion requirements occur and incorporate new system operation enhancements.”
“We’re providing a pathway, not just a replacement product,” Hampe explained. “Hospitals can take their time, continue running Bosch devices, and then migrate piece by piece into Actall technology without over-burdening their capital budget in the near term.”
Additionally, HubSens 5.0 is fully compatible with PrismUI, Actall’s browser-based administration tool, which enables site personnel to manage devices, generate reports, configure alarms and notifications, and integrate with I/O and facility management systems — delivering a rich ecosystem for operational continuity and future system expansion.
Choosing the Right Solution
Actall’s core market is complex architecture; environments that make traditional radio frequency (RF) location difficult and staff safety is paramount — and where triangulation-based solutions face significant obstacles to operate as designed.
Instead of recommending a suit of solutions that might be more excessive than a client truly needs, Actall works to zero in on the security and operational needs of each
individual facility, understanding that end users don’t always need room-level precision throughout their facility or feature-heavy middleware. Instead, they most often need reliable safety and asset tracking that works consistently and accurately in complex spaces.
To ensure flexibility, however, with HubSens 5.0 hospitals can keep Bosch field hardware in place while layering in Actall products, such as like PALS Atlas (RF Zonal), PALS Sentry (ultrasonic Zonal), or the forthcoming PALS Escort (Coordinate). Migration can happen incrementally, with no downtime. The financial and operational impact of RTLS replacement can be immense.
“You can continue to operate your legacy system and improve on your new system, and it all works together,” Hampe said. “Asking clients to throw away what they’ve already paid for is costly and unreasonable. We’re giving them options to extend, adapt and modernize at their pace, while preparing for the future. If you have an existing Bosch system that provides staff duress in your healthcare facility, we can help you retake control of your capital budget.”
A Trusted Partner in Complex Environments
Actall’s core strength is making RTLS work in architecturally dense healthcare spaces, which are often composed of concrete, steel, drywall and brick. These materials can affect duress or location signal propagation by deflecting or containing signals, or by allowing too much signal to bleed through.
Additionally, many healthcare facilities span multiple floors, with complex layouts that can impede or confuse RTLS signal transmission, and many hospitals struggle with signal interruptions from MRI machines and X-ray rooms. In these spaces, a Wi-Fi-based RTLS system often isn’t ideal for security purpose. Even in these challenging areas, however, Actall’s RTLS solution gets signals from a nurse’s duress button to a head-end monitor in three seconds or less.
Future-Forward Solutions Today
For healthcare facilities, Actall can offer more than just technology — it offers continuity, flexibility and the ability to solve complex problems in a easy and cost-effective manner. Without a reliable Staff Safety system, facilities face rising hiring and personnel, having a profound impact on a facility’s bottom line. The ongoing potential of RTLS to transform the hospitals and healthcare facility operations is well documented, but that transformation can’t happen on yesterday’s technology.
This article was originally published in the Annual Issue of Healthcare Construction + Operations News.