Primex Wireless’ temperature and indoor air quality sensors connect wirelessly to the cloud-based OneVue platform.

In the health care industry, it is critical to closely monitor the temperature and humidity levels of a variety of assets, including drugs and blood samples. The provider could lose inventory if it exceeds prescribed levels.

Many health care providers track temperature and humidity by having employees periodically check the levels and record them by hand in a nearby log.

Lake Geneva-based Primex Wireless has developed a monitoring system that simplifies this process by automating it.

The company’s OneVue Intelligent Monitoring platform allows health care providers to wirelessly monitor environmental parameters and free up their highly-trained employees to focus on patient care.

“We alleviate that workload by moving it to the cloud and we secure (the data) for them,” said Brian Balboni, president of Primex Wireless. “OneVue offers a smart, cost-effective and convenient way to achieve real-time monitoring of health care facilities and the critical assets within them.”

The OneVue system uses sensors to collect data from the room, from physical equipment like refrigerators, or from inventory like pharmaceuticals or nutritionals, and send it to the cloud. OneVue’s cloud-based platform allows the user to check on the data collected from any web browser using responsive design that adjusts for easy viewing on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Primex links the data to the refrigerator or vaccine being measured, instead of to the sensor. That way, sensors can be changed out without impacting the historical data records of the object being measured, said Deborah McKenzie, marketing communications manager at Primex.

The OneVue platform can currently be used with Primex’s PrimexIAQ and PrimexTEMP sensors, which monitor room temperature and humidity and equipment temperature, respectively, Balboni said. The company plans to add more capabilities to the platform this spring.

To use the sensors, a health care provider places a metal probe inside the refrigerator, for example, and a sensor outside of the refrigerator, McKenzie said. The probe monitors the level, which the sensor sends over the wireless network to the OneVue platform.

In addition to driving increased efficiency and accuracy in the monitoring process, the OneVue system is designed to keep health care information secure, Balboni said. It doesn’t require any installation, server or software maintenance from the IT department—just a one-time setup to connect the sensor to the network.

“The critical advantages really are that ease of use, ease of installation,” Balboni said. “Breaches of hospital networks can lead to breaches of patient information. We ensure that we’re not an access point.”

OneVue was built with banking-level security and encryption to protect sensitive health care data. It can be customized to allow more or less access for individual users, he said. Users can also have alerts sent by email, text or phone if there’s a problem with a measurement.

“OneVue allows organizations to realize the benefits of automated monitoring, whether it’s a small organization needing a more efficient and reliable monitoring solution or a very large health care enterprise with complex, multi-site monitoring needs,” Balboni said.

Primex Wireless has about 70 employees around the country. It was founded in 2003 as a division of the Primex Family of Companies, which also includes temperature and weather product manufacturer Chaney Instrument Co. and Klockit, a clock build and repair kit provider based in Lake Geneva.

The company has developed about 15 total technology products for the health care and education markets. Many of its physical products are manufactured offshore, though some production is completed locally. Primex develops all of its own software.