Looking to improve the quality of medical care and cost management, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute has selected solutions from Cisco connected health.
Cisco's Medical-Grade Network, Medical Data Exchange Solution, and Healthcare Advisory Services provide the capabilities needed to attain all three stages of meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) as defined by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus program.
Offering access to the hospital information system, the picture archiving and communication system, and electronic health records, Cisco unified wireless network is highly secure. MMCI's new network is based on the Cisco Medical Grade Network architecture. With radio frequency identification technology, the wireless network also helped enable MMCI to introduce location-based services. Allowing nurses to easily locate them no matter where they are in the hospital campus, patients receive tags with RFID chips and can call for help by pressing a button.
“Improving patient care is the most important task for hospitals and health care institutions, despite economic constraints,” said Jiri Devát, general manager of Cisco Czech Republic. “Connecting medical applications, systems and devices to the network speeds up decision-making, enables sharing of information, and increases the availability of services. The network is like the digital nervous system for the hospital, an environment that enables doctors to work efficiently.”
When a disoriented patient leaves the safe areas (entering the basement, for example, or attempting to leave the institution without authorization), the patient tag also enables identification in cases. The project was designed and implemented by Unis Computers, a Cisco Premier Certified Partner in the Czech Republic. MMCI received a European Union grant from the Integrated Operational Programme for Regional Development to support funding.
Recently, Warner Connect, a Minnesota based IT and telecommunications firm, announced that the company retains its premier status as a Cisco Advanced Unified Communications Partner and Cisco Premier Certified Partner. Warner Connect became a certified Cisco Partner in 2001. Warner Connect’s Virtual Data Center and Hosted Phones, which are a part of its data centers and communications platforms, have been powered by Cisco’s technology since 2006.
Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
