The logistics process in healthcare is the same as any other industry, only with higher stakes. Hospitals must ensure that the right pharmaceutical or medical tool is available when it is needed or else their patients could suffer the consequences.
One of the primary challenges of keeping healthcare logistics on track is ensuring regulatory compliance in order to continue accredited operations. While strategies like pen-and-paper and manual data entry exist, both of these leave room for human error and negligence. RTLS provides the most reliable solution for ensuring compliance in healthcare logistics. Let's take a look at what healthcare logistics compliance is, and why RTLS is the perfect solution.
The Importance of Regulatory Compliance in Healthcare Logistics
Regulatory compliance differs subtly between industries. Regardless, the term refers collectively to the practice of maintaining the standards required to operate within an industry, usually by some regulatory body. Accredited organizations within the healthcare industry – particularly hospitals and medical clinics – respond to the Joint Commission, which indicates whether their process upholds standards of patient care through on-site surveys.
In order to acquire this accreditation, facilities must be able to provide accurate records pertaining to equipment use, maintenance, patient cycle time, and inventory usage. The healthcare supply chain in particular must continue to be agile and adaptable enough to deal with the constant changes in regulatory compliance. Nevertheless, at times, hospitals fall short in regards to keeping track of equipment maintenance, and monitoring conditions of sensitive inventory. A real-time location system is the perfect way to ensure that the overall process efficiency of your company is maintained.
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- Loss Prevention. Reduce the amount of loss that occurs during the supply chain process
- Location Coverage. AirFinder Everywhere uses a combination of GPS, Cellular, and WiFi to determine location everywhere
- Security Alerts. Know when a delay in shipment has occurred so the problem can be addressed immediately.
Using RTLS to Meet Compliance in Healthcare
Meeting compliance within healthcare logistics is reliant upon efficient and accurate record-keeping. Traditionally, this can be completed with pen-and-paper systems and a corresponding organizational system. In the age of technology, documentation can also be completed via manual data entry and digital filing for ease of access and reduction of paper usage. However, both of these methods ultimately have the same central flaw: they are reliant upon human input and manual organization. This leaves room for errors and inconsistencies that can result in documentation being misplaced or neglected altogether, leaving healthcare workers in a sticky situation when compliance data is requested.
RTLS asset tracking through Link Labs provides your hospital with the most reliable solution for meeting compliance, especially when it comes to equipment and inventory usage records. Unlike the aforementioned solutions, a properly set up RTLS solution is less likely to be erroneous or inconsistent in its location records and historic data filing. It also helps hospitals and medical clinics stay up-to-date on preventative maintenance and addresses issues of hoarding by providing real-time location data for each tracked asset.
The implementation of an RTLS system also helps with the cold supply chain in healthcare logistics. Temperature monitoring is critical within the healthcare industry. If temperature is not properly monitored, critical assets may reach a dangerous temperature and no longer be safe for patient use. Assets such as medication or laboratories that need to remain at a specific temperature throughout the day now can be maintained through RTLS. RTLS uses sensors that monitor the environment to provide data that helps hospitals increase visibility, maintain quality, instill preventative action, and the ability to ensure regulatory compliance.
How RTLS Promotes Sustainability
With the addition of RTLS in healthcare logistics, you will be increasing the overall sustainability of your hospital. The ability to ensure regulatory compliance through RTLS is the first step to having a sustainable organization that can promise its patients the best care possible for the present and for the future. In particular, Link Labs products promote sustainability through ensuring preventive maintenance of equipment is performed, ensuring proper temperature monitoring, and much more. By providing patients with a sustainable supply chain, the overall efficiency and trustworthiness of your hospital will increase dramatically. Learn how Link Labs is striving to produce the most sustainable asset tracking system on the market!
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An RTLS Solution for Compliance
Link Labs AirFinder is the perfect solution for enhancing compliance in healthcare logistics. Our system provides hospitals with the most accurate data while still preventing organizational hoarding, eliminating “cannot find lists” for biomed, and much more. If you are interested in implementing an RTLS solution to help your healthcare organization meet regulatory compliance, book a demo with Link Labs today!
