The problem in most healthcare settings, particularly in outpatient clinics, is that much of patients’ and staff time is wasted in needless inefficiencies. For example, a study of 167 patients at a general urology clinic showed that 41% or more of staff time is not spent interacting with patients. This time is attributed to administration 17%, disturbances 15%, or finding lab or test results 9%. These inefficiencies have changed little since a study in the same setting thirteen years earlier. (1) MGM Solutions explains that healthcare organizations need a better way of understanding team dynamics and resource utilization in order to enable staff to operate efficiently and provide the best possible experience to patients.

Managers of healthcare practices of all sizes and types increasingly recognize that effective patient flow is key to increasing revenue and improving efficiency for the practice; as well as providing a positive experience for the patient. “MGM Solutions’ unique triple RTLS technology is reliable and highly accurate,” explains Michael Maurer, CEO of MGM Solutions.

The potential uses of the new MGM Solutions SecurTrak Outpatient Flow include ways to monitor efficiency of staff and space resources and ways to interact with other “smart” systems. It also has highly sophisticated analysis tools built into the system and one can track any person or valuable asset with a badge.

With this technology in place, health administrators can track various metrics related to the patients, the staff and the room. It is possible to know exactly how long a patient takes to complete the entire outpatient visit or any part of it. With small clip-on clothing tags, staff and patients can be monitored from the time they check in up until they checkout. It is so refined that it can track people or equipment to an area, a room, or a specific location within a room.

The experience of going to the doctor or treatment center is no longer simply making an appointment, and waiting to see a provider. Attention needs to be paid to how patients can move seamlessly from check-in to clinical practice areas to check-out, so that providers can operate efficiently and maximize time with patients. (2)

Various studies have shown loss of income to private practices due to staff inefficiency and more waiting time and thus less patient satisfaction. (3)  One study in Singapore revealed that even with targeted changes in a diabetes outpatient clinic, turnaround time of a patient’s visit was not improved. (4)Maurer states, “We are dedicated to helping governmental and non-governmental health care organizations. As experts in this field we have the ability to change the use of RTLS. Through a variety of use cases SecurTRAK can be used to improve access, organizational efficiency, patient and staff experience, and most importantly staff and patient safety and security.”

The MGM tracking methods overcome some of the difficulties found in earlier tracking systems as they don’t rely on just one method but three.SecurTRAK is a family of Real-time Locating System (RTLS) products that use Active RFID technology to track people and assets in real time in buildings or across whole campuses — indoors and outdoors.