Compass One Healthcare has announced its signature healthcare technology management (HTM) brand: Intelas. The new name reflects the company’s strategy to deliver scalable, integrated clinical engineering services across health systems while continuing to support hospitals through on-site programs and data-driven asset management.

“Healthcare now spans urgent care clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, and more, and systems must manage the thousands of devices needed to connect and share data,” says Jim Cheek, president of Intelas, in a release. “Intelas captures what we stand for today: data-driven decisions, consistent performance, and a team that brings clarity and confidence to every stage of the equipment lifecycle.”

Intelas is now its own branded solution under the Compass One Healthcare umbrella with its own structure, specialized tools, and a clear strategy. The core team, leadership, and national service footprint remain unchanged.

According to the company, Intelas continues to deliver dedicated, site-based clinical engineering programs with 24/7 support and expertise in managing biomedical and imaging equipment. The name is intended to better reflect the scale and impact of its work within healthcare organizations.

Intelas will remain aligned with Compass One’s other sectors, including Morrison Healthcare for food and nutrition, TouchPoint for food and support services, and Crothall Healthcare for environmental and support services.

“Intelas reflects who we’ve become today, through our expanded capabilities and offerings and use of data and analytics. We’re excited for the future of HTM and smarter asset management,” says Cheek in a release.

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reLink Medical, a provider of medical equipment disposition solutions, has expanded its platform to include medical device procurement, rental services, and flat-rate repair options. The additions aim to support healthcare providers throughout the entire equipment lifecycle, from acquisition to retirement.

The expanded offerings are integrated into reLink Medical’s existing platform, which supports hospitals, healthcare networks, ambulatory surgical centers, and other providers in managing clinical assets. The company says in a press release that the updates are designed to streamline equipment sourcing, improve cost efficiency, and simplify logistics.

“We built our reputation by helping thousands of hospitals handle the final stage of their equipment lifecycle. Now, we’re bringing that same reliability and innovation to the very beginning,” says Jeff Dalton, CEO of reLink Medical, in a release. “With a unified platform for sourcing, renting, repairing, and retiring equipment, we’re reimagining what full-service support really means. It’s about delivering more value, more flexibility, and more choices to our partners across the entire equipment lifecycle.”

The latest release of reLink Online now includes:

• Purchasing options for new and recertified equipment from leading manufacturers and third-party suppliers
• Flat-rate repair services with quick turnaround times, consistent quality, and optional loaner equipment
• Medical equipment rental with flexible terms and transparent pricing, useful for temporary needs such as surge capacity or renovations
• Continued access to reLink’s decommissioning and asset recovery services through the reLink360 model

According to the company, the expanded platform is intended to help healthcare providers make more informed equipment decisions while maintaining operational continuity and cost control.

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PartsSource has announced development of Asset Uptime, a centralized platform designed to help healthcare technology management (HTM) teams monitor and maintain clinical equipment across multi-vendor, multi-modality, and multi-site environments.

Co-developed with five healthcare systems—including MultiCare Health System—representing 87 hospitals, the technology introduces what the company calls the first Asset Health Record: a centralized repository that stores and visualizes data across devices, vendors, and care settings. The platform aims to increase equipment availability and reduce delays in patient care by aggregating telemetry from connected devices and automating service workflows.

According to PartsSource, Asset Uptime was developed in response to growing operational challenges in healthcare settings, where hospitals often rely on dozens of separate software systems to track equipment maintenance. Research shows that most hospitals self-manage up to 30 internal and external software systems related to device maintenance. Inconsistent diagnostic procedures across proprietary vendor platforms can increase equipment downtime by 20 to 40%, according to the company, which notes can cost health systems between $20 million and $50 million annually. 

“Asset Uptime gives us the power to move from reactive repairs to proactive readiness,” says Don Davenport, manager of clinical engineering at MultiCare Health System, in a release. “With real-time insights and a unified view of our inventory and operations, we can better prioritize resources, improve service response, and ultimately increase equipment availability. It’s a major leap forward in our ability to support clinicians and patients.”

Building on Prior Service Initiatives

PartsSource says the new platform integrates device monitoring data, CMMS systems, and supply chain information to provide a unified view of asset performance. Early users report that the platform supports a shift toward proactive service management, helping reduce reliance on legacy contracts and manual processes.

The company demonstrated a technical proof of concept for Asset Uptime in 2024. The alpha partners are the first health systems in the US to begin implementing the platform.

Asset Uptime builds on previous initiatives from PartsSource, including its PRO Service solution launched in 2023, which aims to consolidate fragmented service contracts into a digital-first service model. According to the company, it now manages more than 132,000 assets across its customer base.

John Knapp, vice president of clinical engineering at LifeBridge Health, says PRO Service allowed his team to bring previously unmanaged equipment under oversight. “By meeting us where we are, PartsSource helped remove the risk of taking equipment previously off-contract onto a new agreement, while their proactive recommendations for highly qualified vendors from their network are helping us manage and reduce our service spend.”

Both Asset Uptime and PRO Service are being featured in live demonstrations at the 2025 AAMI eXchange conference in New Orleans.

By Alyx Arnett

A March 2025 report from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found that staff at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia, reprocessed and used surgical instruments with visible damage, despite policies prohibiting such practices. 

The report was prompted in part by a spring 2024 incident in which surgical tools with visible damage—including staining and pitting—were discovered in a rectal tray that had already been used during a patient procedure. While it remains unclear whether the nonconforming instruments were used on the patient, the entire tray had been reprocessed and returned to use, and staff failed to remove the visibly damaged tools prior to the procedure, according to the report. According to VA policy, if one item in a surgical tray is contaminated or nonconforming, the entire tray is considered compromised.

The event occurred after a prior inspection in 2022 had identified similar issues at the facility and after VA leaders had agreed to implement corrective actions.

During the latest inspection, OIG staff found additional nonconforming instruments in randomly selected surgical trays and determined that reprocessing and using visibly damaged tools was an ongoing practice at the facility. According to the report, both current and former Sterile Processing Services (SPS) chiefs allowed the practice, citing factors such as pressure to deliver complete trays, unclear responsibility for instrument replacement, and what one leader described as “staff complacency.”

Training Delays and Policy Noncompliance

As part of its review of the rectal tray incident, the OIG assessed how facility leaders responded after the damaged instruments were discovered in spring 2024. According to the report, the chief of SPS conducted refresher training for sterile processing staff and posted visual reminders in the work area. However, operating room staff did not initially receive similar training, despite internal documentation noting the need for “more rigid inspection” of surgical equipment.

When asked why this training was delayed, the operating room nurse manager cited limited staff time and expressed concern about leadership deprioritizing essential safety efforts, according to the report. The OIG described the lack of timely training as inconsistent with expectations and a missed opportunity to prevent continued use of damaged instruments.

Preventive Maintenance Program Missing Until 2024

Inspectors also found that the facility had failed to implement a preventive maintenance program for surgical instruments, despite a 2016 VA policy requiring one. The program, which involves routine sharpening, repair, and replacement, was only put in place in May 2024 after years of leadership turnover, according to the report.

During initial servicing under the new contract, more than 800 surgical instruments were identified as “beyond repair,” including four from the same rectal tray involved in the spring 2024 incident.

Incomplete Fixes from Prior Oversight

The March 2025 inspection also assessed the facility’s progress on recommendations issued in an earlier March 2024 OIG report. Key corrective actions remained incomplete:

• CensiTrac, an electronic instrument tracking system, had not been fully implemented. OIG found missing documentation, unmarked instruments, and discrepancies between instrument trays and count sheets.
• The CensiTrac coordinator, responsible for overseeing the system and instrument marking, had longstanding performance issues that were not formally addressed by supervisors.
• A room meant for training and meetings continued to be used for meals and breaks, raising contamination concerns. Despite verbal claims of repurposing, inspectors observed food and drink in the room during their visit.

The report cites high leadership turnover as a major contributor to the continued deficiencies. The SPS chief position changed hands four times from early 2022 to late 2023. At the time of inspection, all members of the executive leadership team were serving in acting roles, according to the report. Separately, the VISN chief sterile processing officer noted poor communication and unfilled critical positions within the SPS department.

Recommendations and Response

The OIG made five new recommendations:

1. Ensure proper identification and removal of nonconforming instruments.
2. Provide training for operating room staff on recognizing nonconforming tools.
3. Review whether any patients may have been affected by the approximately 800 nonconforming surgical instruments.
4. Evaluate whether administrative actions are warranted for staff involved in the deficiencies.
5. Strengthen oversight of corrective actions and ensure long-term compliance.

Leaders from both the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center and the VA Southeast Network—which oversees the facility—concurred with the recommendations and submitted action plans. The OIG stated it will continue monitoring until all corrective measures are complete.

In a statement to 24×7, a representative from the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center says the facility is working to address the issues outlined in the OIG reports: “VA is under new leadership and is committed to solving the kinds of problems highlighted in these two OIG reports, which resulted from inspections in 2022 and 2024. The Carl Vinson VA Medical Center and VA Southeast Regional Network are well on their way to addressing all the recommendations in the reports.”

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By Amy Knue, vice president of mobile clinical asset management services, TRIMEDX

Health systems across the country are unknowingly paying multiple times for the same medical equipment—once to own it and again to rent it. The issue isn’t always increasing clinical demand; it’s often availability and visibility to medical device inventory. 

The cost of these unnecessary rentals can quickly add up, putting more pressure on health systems’ already stretched budgets. Making sure clinicians, finance teams, and clinical engineering teams have real-time visibility into rental and owned equipment inventory, location, and utilization is key to breaking the cycle of unnecessary rentals.

Equipment Movement Creates Availability Challenges

Devices, including pumps and ventilators, are constantly moving with patients from the emergency room or operating room to other departments like the intensive care unit. This leads to equipment pooling in patient rooms while departments in other areas, like the ER, suffer shortages. 

In addition, because they know it may be difficult to find devices they need later, nurses may tuck away supplies in closets or cabinets. This practice also contributes to perceived equipment shortages. When frontline workers in the ER need a pump, they may struggle to find one at easy access. These workers don’t always have time to search for available equipment or walk to another department to retrieve unused devices. As a result, they may order rental equipment to solve their problem quickly and provide immediate care to the patient.

While this is convenient, and sometimes necessary, it can also be expensive. Clinicians need to be able to quickly track and locate available equipment that’s already in the hospital, without having to immediately turn to rentals or make patients wait for urgently needed care.

The ‘Easy-Button’ Effect on Rental Equipment

Many rental vendors are located on the hospital grounds, making rental equipment easily accessible to clinicians. Nurses or doctors can call a vendor and have the device they need within minutes, reducing wait time for patients. This is extremely beneficial in emergency situations or when there is an unexpected surge of patients. 

However, in some cases, this convenience has led to an over-reliance on rental equipment as a first resort. Health systems need to ensure that accessing their own equipment is just as simple and convenient as turning to rental vendors.

Lack of Centralized Inventory Visibility Is Hurting Health Systems

Health systems often have an inaccurate view of the inventory in their buildings. TRIMEDX has found health systems can misperceive what they’re spending on rental equipment by as much as 50%. It’s extremely difficult to make smart decisions about what equipment to purchase or rent without knowing what’s already in the health system, where devices are located, and how often each device is used.

To complicate matters even further, rentals are often charged to various cost centers throughout the hospital. Multiple departments may unknowingly rent the same type of equipment at the same time. This makes aggregate tracking very complicated for hospital executives and finance teams.

Without a centralized system or single point of truth for what devices are on-site, in-use, or available, health systems will likely pay to rent equipment they already own—while also paying for rentals longer than is truly necessary. Oftentimes, when a healthcare worker orders a piece of rental equipment it’s forgotten about after use. A rented bed may sit in a hallway or in a backroom without anyone realizing it’s still on site. Rented devices can easily blend in with owned equipment if not tracked carefully. All the while, fees and recurring charges are adding up.

A comprehensive account of a health system’s owned and rented inventory, along with utilization data, can empower decision-makers. It gives them the ability to transfer underutilized equipment from one location to a busier site. It allows them to confidently decide if it’s best to purchase certain equipment or continue renting it. These types of data-backed decisions will increase medical equipment availability and improve patient care while safeguarding narrow profit margins.  

One of the best ways to ensure accurate and complete visibility is by working with a trusted partner for rented and owned medical device inventory management. This partner can facilitate rental orders and returns, ensure quality sourcing through strategic vendor relationships, and lift a burden off overworked healthcare teams.

RTLS Technology Is a Game-Changer

Another way hospitals can reduce unnecessary rental spending is through real-time location systems (RTLS). RTLS technology can help staff locate devices instantly. Working with a partner who uses an RTLS platform to track both rented and owned devices is a game-changer for health systems and their clinicians. 

Studies have shown that searching for supplies or equipment is one of the biggest issues keeping nurses from their primary patient care tasks. RTLS technology can significantly reduce that wasted time and ease the stress of healthcare workers. Instead of hunting for devices or immediately ordering a rental, clinicians can simply locate the devices they need using a mobile app. This allows clinicians to spend their valuable time focusing on providing excellent patient care, rather than searching the hospital for hidden devices.

Health systems should consider working with a partner who offers real-time tracking of both owned and rented devices. These types of comprehensive RTLS programs allow for differentiation between rented and owned equipment, ensuring hospitals can easily identify what they have on hand to better assess cost and performance. Automated alerts can also prompt timely returns of rental equipment to avoid fees or rental overruns.

Cross-Departmental Coordination is Crucial

To take control of runaway rental expenses, there needs to be clear collaboration between healthcare technology management teams, clinical staff, finance teams, and rental vendors. A standardized process for requesting, tracking, and returning rental equipment ensures medical device inventory is managed efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively.

Unnecessary rentals are not just a financial oversight; they’re a symptom of deeper issues in asset visibility and coordination within health systems. This lack of visibility and coordination can divert resources, inflate operational costs, and potentially delay patient care. Health systems can regain control and stop the waste by improving inventory transparency, investing in RTLS technology, and encouraging better collaboration between departments. These steps will enable more efficient and patient-focused care.

About the author: Amy Knue is the vice president of mobile clinical asset management services for TRIMEDX. In her role, she leads TRIMEDX’s Mobile Medical Equipment management service offering that provides hospitals with the cleaning and management of mobile equipment through technology enablement, on-site technicians, and best-in-class lean processes. She also oversees TRIMEDX RentalWatch, a program that optimizes medical equipment rental processes and reduces unnecessary rental spend.  

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TRIMEDX has released its 2025 industry report on clinical asset management, offering a look at how healthcare leaders are responding to mounting pressures around emerging technologies, regulatory uncertainty, and strained capital budgets.

The report draws from conversations with executives across hospitals and health systems, focusing on central issues: the integration of generative AI, growing advocacy for Right to Repair legislation, persistent cybersecurity threats, challenges in clinical engineering and IT alignment, and the need for more strategic capital planning.

Key findings from the report include:

• Generative AI is poised to automate labor-intensive tasks, improve clinical decision-making, and unlock vast volumes of underutilized healthcare data.
• Cybersecurity is increasingly viewed as an enterprise-wide risk, demanding stronger segmentation, regulatory preparedness, and collaboration with federal agencies.
• Right to Repair legislation continues to gain momentum, with industry advocates highlighting the importance of cost-effective, high-quality service options for medical equipment.
• Capital planning and aging equipment remain ongoing concerns, prompting calls for data-driven asset management to maximize limited budgets.
• Clinical engineering and IT integration is seen as essential, yet fraught with organizational challenges as leaders debate structure, accountability, and alignment.

Artificial Intelligence

“The speed of development is both impressive and concerning,” says Kristi McDermott, TRIMEDX chief operating officer, in the report, referring to the rapid advancement of generative AI. While executives see promise in AI for improving productivity and unlocking underutilized healthcare data, they warned that cultural resistance, regulatory hurdles, and a lack of infrastructure could hinder implementation. “The industry is still grappling with foundational challenges and simply isn’t yet equipped to fully integrate generative AI and other evolving modalities at this scale,” McDermott says in the report. 

AI was described by Eric Larsen, president emeritus of The Advisory Board and president of TowerBrook Advisors, as an opportunity to build “medical superintelligence”—a system integrating clinical, behavioral, and social data to drive personalized care. But the report cautions that realizing this vision will require stronger leadership, clearer governance, and strategic partnerships.

Right to Repair Legislation

The report also highlights momentum behind Right to Repair legislation. Tim McGeath, a senior consultant at TRIMEDX, pointed to long-standing advocacy efforts aimed at leveling the playing field for independent service organizations. Citing data presented to Congress, McGeath emphasized that non-OEM service providers can match manufacturer performance, supporting both quality care and cost control.

Cybersecurity: A Growing Concern

Cybersecurity, meanwhile, was identified as a persistent and growing concern. Executives warned that poor segmentation and outdated systems leave hospitals vulnerable. “[Health systems are] really bad at segmentation. It’s a basic cybersecurity control, and yet health care is failing at it,” a senior director of information security is quoted as saying in the report. Federal advisors who joined the discussion urged hospitals to treat cyber-risk as an enterprise issue, not an IT silo.

Other HTM-Central Themes

Other major themes included the ongoing debate over where clinical engineering should reside—under IT, operations, or independently. While some favored tighter alignment with cybersecurity efforts, others stressed the need for on-the-ground support that centralized IT departments may not provide.

Capital planning was also top of mind. “There’s always going to be more demand than dollars,” says Ted Dunham, TRIMEDX chief commercial officer, in the report. Executives underscored the value of data-driven asset management in extending equipment life and supporting more informed investment decisions.

To help address some of these challenges, TRIMEDX previewed updates to its technology roadmap, including expanded mobile app capabilities, rental equipment tracking, a real-time location system called GeoSense, and predictive maintenance tools. These technologies are intended to improve asset utilization, reduce downtime, and bolster cybersecurity.

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Courtesy of GE HealthCare

In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, managing a wide variety of networked assets efficiently with minimal interruptions helping to enable patient care is crucial. However, managing numerous devices and network infrastructures can be complex, inefficient, and potentially disruptive to the patient care experience. Hospitals need to ensure their equipment is ready to go, so they can focus on what matters most: patient care.

As healthcare systems face staffing challenges, more complex patient cases, and try to minimize alarm fatigue, care teams are looking for ways to simplify workflows and spend less time managing devices. Fleet management solutions help healthcare systems know where their devices are, how they’re being used, and if there are potential security vulnerabilities—helping to reduce device downtime and helping to enable uninterrupted patient care.

This comes to life in Baptist Hospital’s new campus in Pensacola, Florida. 

Streamlining Fleet Management and Helping to Minimize Disruptions to Patient Care 

The global healthcare IT market is projected to grow from $420 billion in 2024 to over $834 billion by 2029, with an annual growth rate of 15%.¹ This growth is driven by the increasing adoption of digital health solutions and the desire to enhance quality care. 

Baptist Health Care implemented GE HealthCare’s ReadySee platform at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, which offers a new way to manage biomedical devices. ReadySee is a scalable platform designed to provide insights into biomedical device inventory, behaviors, and potential cybersecurity risks, while automatically monitoring device integration and infrastructure. This comprehensive solution helps biomedical engineers prioritize and proactively manage their device networks, helping to reduce the risk of downtime.

“If a patient is admitted, my team can see the admittance, which is critical when planning out preventative maintenance and preparing for any network errors that may occur,” says Tony Williams, director of biomedical engineering at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola.

By offering greater device visibility and comprehensive monitoring, ReadySee allows biomedical engineers to help ensure equipment is ready to go with less time searching for and troubleshooting devices so clinicians can spend more time on patient care. ReadySee is a part of GE HealthCare’s growing portfolio of DeviceReady remote fleet management solutions, helping biomedical engineers navigate dynamic patient needs.

“Our job has become easier with ReadySee. It will let me know if a monitor is having a problem before the clinician calls me, because I can get the alert well before someone notices it on the patient end,” adds Williams.

Continuous Patient Monitoring Can Help Optimize Precision Care

Continuous monitoring and access to real-time data throughout a patient’s journey is helpful in identifying patient deterioration early for timely intervention. ReadySee plays an important role in helping to ensure that monitoring technology is working properly.

According to GE HealthCare’s The State of Flexible HealthCare Delivery survey, respondents said expanding the use of continuous monitoring technologies would help identify deterioration earlier (74%), reduce reliance on telemetry beds (52%), and reduce length of stay (52%).

To simplify device integration across its system, Baptist Hospital installed GE HealthCare’s CARESCAPE Canvas monitoring platform, including CARESCAPE ONE. CARESCAPE solutions offer one standard interface to simplify clinician workflows. It is simple to add or remove clinical parameters as the platform is designed to scale up or down depending on a patient’s level of acuity, providing clinicians with information they need, when they need it. The platform includes backwards and forwards capabilities for seamless integration with existing technology and forward-looking features enabling care transformation into the future.

 “One really nice thing is that CARESCAPE monitors allow patients to go from one place in the hospital to another. If the patient is in critical care and they need to go to CT, they continue to be monitored with the same system,” emphasizes Joyce Nichols, VP and chief nursing officer at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola.

The CARESCAPE Canvas platform is designed to adapt to virtually any patient level of acuity, helping clinicians deliver consistent quality care across beds and units for continuous monitoring.

“The importance of scaling up and down with the CARESCAPE monitors is vital because I can manage my patients regardless of acuity,” highlights Williams.

Integrated Technology Systems Can Pave the Way for Improved Efficiency and Seamless Patient Care

ReadySee and CARESCAPE Canvas integrate seamlessly to provide a comprehensive solution for healthcare facilities. ReadySee shows devices and traffic on the CARESCAPE network, allowing customers to locate and get insights into the patient data modules and parameter modules connected to CARESCAPE patient monitors without interrupting patient care. This integration helps maximize network performance.

This proactive approach to fleet management and continuous patient monitoring can help support precision care and enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery. Baptist Hospital’s new campus in Pensacola also utilizes GE HealthCare’s digital centralized monitoring unit, maternal infant care, diagnostic cardiology, imaging, and ultrasound solutions, as well as technology service.

At Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, the integration of ReadySee and CARESCAPE solutions can make a meaningful difference in the lives of clinicians and patients. Williams highlights, “I get really excited when the decisions that we made as a group and the technology we sourced have positive impacts on patients.”

Learn more about ReadySee and CARESCAPE Canvas.

Photo caption: CARESCAPE Canvas

Photo credit: GE HealthCare

Reference

1. Research and Markets. (2024). Healthcare IT Market Report 2024 – The Rise of Telehealth Solutions as a Market Driver. Retrieved from https://www.researchandmarkets.com/report/health-it

Peerbridge Health, developer of a hospital-grade, remote monitoring and diagnostic platform that harnesses AI to detect early signs of heart failure, has been selected as the winner of the “Best New Technology Solution for Cardiology” award in the 9th annual MedTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by MedTech Breakthrough, an independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global digital health and medical technology market.

Peerbridge Health has developed and validated through prospective trials the ability of the Peerbridge Cor wearable to detect heart failure, estimate ejection fraction, and diagnose sleep apnea directly from the device without any patient demographic or medical history inputs required.

In March, the company announced its next-generation device, Cor MDx, an IoT wearable, combining signal fidelity and real-time multi-lead streaming and connectivity over BLE and LTE to offer a seamless solution for cardiac care. The cardiac monitoring wearable can deliver noninvasive cardiopulmonary measurements including cardiac output to enable the 30-plus indications previously announced in Peerbridge’s COR-INSIGHT trial. Cor MDx is designed to expand access to early detection and intervention.

“Bringing inexpensive hospital-grade diagnostics to a patient’s home is a critical first step to reaching tens of millions of underserved patients,” says Chris Darland, CEO of Peerbridge Health, in a release. “Our AI-powered device enhances diagnostic yield and reduces costs, enabling hospitals, physicians, and patients to access critical cardiac insights like never before. We thank MedTech Breakthrough for acknowledging the work we are doing to bring care to those who need it most.”

Recognizing Excellence in Medtech

The MedTech Breakthrough Awards program celebrates excellence and innovation in the health and medical technology industry, recognizing the companies, products, and solutions driving meaningful progress and improving patient care. The awards span a range of categories, including telehealth, clinical administration, patient engagement, electronic health records, virtual care, medical devices, medical data and privacy, and more.

This year’s program saw a record-breaking number of nominations from leading companies and startups across more than 18 countries.

“Peerbridge Health is reinventing heart failure detection. For patients, the period from initial outreach to a cardiologist appointment and testing can take months. Reliance on imaging, catheter-based techniques, and biochemical assays also delay diagnosis or worsening conditions,” says Steve Johansson, managing director of MedTech Breakthrough, in a release. “Peerbridge can deliver an accurate diagnosis in under 30 minutes at a fraction of the cost of traditional diagnosis. Peerbridge is offering a paradigm shift in diagnostic precision and accessibility from a single ECG wearable, reducing patient burden and enabling more frequent assessments.”

All 2025 MedTech Breakthrough Award winners can be seen here. 

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By Shannon Housh 

Real-time location systems (RTLS) and, more specifically, asset management are being leveraged by 25% of hospitals in the United States. This number is anticipated to grow annually at a rate of 17% between 2024 and 2032. Why? Hospitals are seeking to reduce equipment search time, prevent loss of valuable assets, optimize utilization rates, and ensure critical equipment is available when and where it’s needed. 

Patients rely on their care teams and, by extension, the systems and equipment behind them to feel safe and supported throughout their hospital stays. It’s up to healthcare leaders to foster environments where patients, as well as staff, can feel confident that the right tools are available when they’re needed most.

The problem is that mobile medical equipment frequently goes missing. It’s constantly in use, which can lead to unintentional losses during the shuffle of the patient journey. Healthcare professionals are then left searching for the proper tools during potentially crucial points of patient care. This reality can not only negatively impact patient outcomes but also decrease staff satisfaction and productivity. 

Implementing better inventory management systems and ensuring that all equipment is properly monitored and maintained can help mitigate these issues, allowing clinical staff to focus more on patient care rather than equipment logistics.

How Does Asset Monitoring Help Your Team?

Many healthcare teams experience frequent windows where mobile medical equipment is out-of-stock, low-stock, or lost, creating significant challenges for care teams and slowing patient care. Sixty-three percent of healthcare workers report spending over an hour per shift seeking necessary data or devices. 

Why are so many healthcare professionals spending their time searching for critical equipment? Inventory management in healthcare is notoriously complex. Without advanced location technology and automation for non-clinical tasks, patient care delays and workflow bottlenecks often arise from dealing with siloed systems, manual data entry, and time spent locating staff or equipment. These burdens should not fall on nurses and patient care teams.

Asset management RTLS offers a practical solution, providing real-time room- and bay-level maps, listing equipment locations, tracking usage, and delivering alerts for maintenance, cleaning, and recalls. Once RTLS tags are placed on mobile medical equipment, staff can view the exact location and current status of devices—whether clean, soiled, broken, or in use—within seconds. This visibility helps streamline workflows and reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections.

Basic asset visibility is the first step toward operational efficiency. With room-level locating enabled, healthcare facilities can scale their systems to support automated workflows, including periodic automatic replenishment (PAR)-level management, preventative maintenance, equipment distribution, and loss prevention. Hospital administrators and other key personnel can leverage historical data and analytics to increase equipment utilization, avoid over-procurement, and rent equipment more accurately. 

Loss prevention workflow solutions also help reduce misplaced rental equipment by generating alerts when items move outside designated zones or aren’t returned on time. Real-time tracking and usage logs support accountability, help prevent unauthorized use, and ensure equipment is available when needed.

How Can Hospitals Solve Equipment Challenges?

By leveraging RTLS, a hospital in southern California witnessed a substantial decrease in the rate of lost or stolen devices, reaped annual savings of $200,000, achieved a 50% surge in staff satisfaction, and gained actionable insights into equipment distribution and maintenance challenges. 

As previously mentioned, healthcare facilities can further bolster their RTLS asset tracking solutions with room-level locating to automate workflows, such as PAR-level management, and preventive maintenance functions. Supply chain managers and healthcare administrators can leverage the system’s backend to track PAR levels in real time, while utilizing its advanced reporting and analytics capabilities to identify and address inefficiencies in inventory utilization. 

With certain providers, hybrid architecture can also be an option to empower hospitals by leveraging mixed RTLS infrastructure and increased scalability within a single building or across an entire campus to optimally balance affordability and precision according to department needs. To go even further, healthcare teams can automate these tasks with the ease of single sign-on RTLS cloud-based solutions, which further reduce stress and inefficiencies around equipment location and provide insights on availability and status. The cloud-based solutions allow employees to operate at the top of their licenses with streamlined daily workflow management.

What’s the Best Path Forward to Achieve Strong ROI?

Ensuring healthcare professionals are fully optimizing RTLS is crucial for operational efficiency, safety, and positive experiences. Strategic RTLS partners offer expert-led consulting and training services, which can include programs with tailored, multi-tiered on-site assessments and best practices to ensure the right technology is deployed, the right processes are in place to fully leverage the investment, and relevant resources are available.

Industry expert-led guidance offers strategic best practice recommendations for optimizing tools like asset management, staff workflow, and safety, and patient throughput, all while boosting productivity and reducing costs. Additionally, some offerings provide a consulting analytics platform that leverages the power of machine learning, predictive AI, federated learning, and real-time alerting tools to share continuous process improvements. 

What to Consider If You’re Seeking RTLS

When exploring RTLS solutions, it’s important to choose strategic partners that provide a comprehensive suite of services that can grow with the healthcare facility and a clear roadmap for future implementations. Such a thoughtful approach facilitates system expansion to other areas in the future if necessary. 

Often, asset management and staff duress solutions introduce healthcare facilities to RTLS, and from there, location systems can be scaled. A seasoned RTLS vendor will ensure that initial investments provide a solid foundation to support and easily grow to additional use cases. For example, investing in a location platform that offers real-time visibility solutions can result in detecting inefficiencies in room turnover that would benefit from an additional solution. The inefficiencies can be addressed with an RTLS-enabled solution that manages staff workflows and patient flow efficiently. 

Most importantly, when it comes to implementing RTLS in healthcare, it’s essential to prioritize people, process, and then technology. First, focusing on people means ensuring that the staff is well-trained and understands the benefits and usage of the system. Their buy-in is crucial for successful adoption. Next, refining the process involves establishing clear protocols for how the RTLS will be integrated into daily operations. This ensures that the system supports workflow efficiently and effectively. Finally, technology comes into play as the tool that facilitates these processes. By prioritizing in this order, leaders ensure that the RTLS is used to its full potential, improving asset management, reducing losses, and enhancing patient care.

About the author: Shannon Housh is a Leapfrog Certified Coach and the clinical consultant, performance excellence at CenTrak, which offers locating, sensing, and security solutions for the healthcare industry. 

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Nihon Kohden announced the launch of its second-generation Live View Panel Pro, a remote monitoring platform designed to let neurology specialists care for more patients in more locations—all managed from a single, customizable patient monitoring panel.

The upgraded platform combines real-time interactive viewing, integrated two-way intercom, and centralized data management to address modern healthcare challenges such as staff shortages, rising patient volumes, information overload, and fragmented care processes. New features are designed to help streamline decision-making, reduce transfers, and ensure timely treatment.

Key updates to the Live View Panel Pro remote neurology monitoring platform include: 

• Real-Time Interactive Viewing: Centralized and customizable interface to track multiple patients, featuring color-coded status indicators and trend analysis for informed decision-making.
• Two-Way Communication: Integrated intercom, voicemail management, and portable audio capabilities offering clinician-patient interaction anytime, anywhere.
• Data Integration: Unified remote neurology monitoring platform for EEG, PSG, and IOM data, providing interactive viewing of neuromonitoring insights.
• Advanced Decision-Support Tools: Event annotations, trend tracking, and quick-action icons help enable expedited care delivery.
• Expanded Specialist Support: The upgraded system accommodates a broader range of neurology specialists, including those in intraoperative neuromonitoring and polysomnography.
• Increased Versatility: Designed to adapt across differing healthcare environments, enhancing its utility in multiple clinical settings.
• Flexible Customization: Scalable hardware and licensing options with personalized layouts and configurable notifications to enhance workflow efficiency.

“We work closely with clinicians every day, actively listening to their needs and challenges,” says Roy Sakai, president of Nihon Kohden America, in a release. “Incorporating their direct feedback into this latest update to Live View Panel Pro helps break down physical and logistical barriers, empowering medical professionals to deliver exceptional care with greater ease and efficiency. Its advanced features modernize neurology care, driving better outcomes for both patients and providers.”

The Live View Panel Pro remote neurology monitoring platform also supports continuous EEG interactive viewing for high-risk patients in epilepsy monitoring units and other critical care settings.

Photo caption: Live View Panel Pro

Photo credit: Nihon Kohden