Pacific Medical Centers Expands Versus Advantages RTLS to Totem Lake Clinic

TRAVERSE CITY -- Traverse City-based Versus Technology Inc. announced Wednesday that Pacific Medical Centers has installed its Versus Advantages realtime location system at a second clinic, PacMed Totem Lake in Kirkland, Wash.

The installation followed a successful initial rollout at PacMed Canyon Park in Bothell, Wash.

The automation that Versus Technology (Pink Sheets: VSTI) brings to the Totem Lake clinic allows patients to quickly move to an examination room and spend much less time in a waiting room. With Versus, the same number of patients can be accommodated in a space that is significantly smaller.

The PacMed Totem Lake clinic offers primary care services to approximately 110 patients per day in 17 primary exam rooms and three eye exam rooms. All staff, including those in the registration and business offices and pharmacy, wear Versus badges and, upon registration, each patient is assigned a Versus badge, which is worn on the patient's wrist. Some equipment is also tagged, making it easy for staff to quickly locate the gear they need.

PacMed anticipated that implementing the Versus Advantages software would improve visibility and patient flow as proven at Canyon Park clinic. Eight weeks after implementation, expectations have been confirmed. According to Jane Reubish, Clinic Supervisor, "We spend slightly more time on the front-end registering patients, but we've reduced the time it takes to find patients and we no longer require medical assistants to escort patients from the waiting room to their exam rooms. We're collecting data and we can see where everyone is, even if they're behind closed doors."

Clinics rely on MAs to facilitate patient flow. The Versus Advantages RTLS is an important tool for staff, indicating not only when a patient is ready to be seen by the provider, but also how long each stage of the treatment process takes. Some of the key patient milestone indicators that Totem Lake staff see in real-time include each patient's overall length of stay and the patient's wait time from the start of each new care interval. While Totem Lake is still in the process of collecting baseline data, Reubish shares, "The Versus system has made us more aware of flow in the clinic and any bottlenecks. As we get more data, we can see what areas we may need to address."

As for patients, Reubish said, "They are interested in the system, and many of them have seen it at Canyon Park. We are committed to helping our patients live their best lives and giving them a more streamlined visit to the doctor saves them time."

Staff at Totem Lake Clinic adapted to the system quickly.

"We received excellent training on all the software and tools Versus offers to make our lives easier," Reubish said. "We've never had the ability to simply look at glance-and-go screens to determine if exam rooms are occupied or by whom. Staff like being able to find one another and patients with ease, and our providers are notified when the patient is ready to be seen. We're very satisfied with the system and services. Versus made the implementation process very smooth for us and our patients."

The Versus Advantages RTLS uses infrared and radio frequency identification to determine room-level location and drive rules-based clinical workflow automation. The system grants situational awareness to staff, allowing them to view patient progression and room status in real-time on floor plans that represent the exact layout of the facility as well as on list views that show additional details related to the patient's visit. For example, list views may display the patient's caregiver, reason for visit and indicate who has been with the patient, who is currently with the patient and who needs to see the patient next. All data is captured within the context of the patient's visit and is available for reporting through Versus' advanced Reports Plus Analytics application, which provides a variety of milestone-based reports to help improve patient flow and resource utilization throughout the environment. To learn more, visit www.versustech.com.