During recent FDA/FCC meeting, InnerWireless’ chief technologist shared insights gleaned from converging thousands of wireless medical devices and services on wireless networks in over 150 U.S. hospitals
RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InnerWireless®, Inc., the premier provider of end-to-end in-building converged wireless solutions, today announced its support of, and technology alignment with, the draft IEC 80001-1 risk-management standard to guide hospitals on how to add medical devices to their network without compromising patient care and safety. The company has also provided direct input to the FDA and FCC as they determine how best to support the safe and effective integration of current and future wireless medical devices and applications in hospitals across the country.
InnerWireless Chief Technology Officer Jim McCoy was a speaker at the recent FDA/FCC joint meeting on “Enabling the Convergence of Communications and Medical Systems,” where he addressed integrating multiple wireless medical devices with a hospital’s network. McCoy’s technical and practical experience results from InnerWireless successfully integrating thousands of wireless devices onto networks in over 150 major medical centers and hospitals across the U.S.
“In 2004, with plans to offer a healthcare and enterprise wireless solution, InnerWireless studied the WLAN service and identified inherent challenges associated with different devices and applications competing for a non-deterministic, limited channel resource in a conventional deployment,” McCoy said. “As a result, InnerWireless developed a deployment methodology in conjunction with its broadband wireless platform for providing multiple, dedicated wireless LAN resources simultaneously to different categories, priorities and criticalities of applications in order to minimize risk, which is precisely the goal of IEC 80001, the FDA, and the FCC.”
By uniquely engineering its broadband DAS for connecting all things wireless including WLAN services, InnerWireless enables healthcare providers to simultaneously operate an almost unlimited number of wireless medical and communications devices over a single solution.
For example, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCUHS) connects all of its wireless devices from 3G smartphones to medical devices utilizing the wireless LAN via the InnerWireless DAS, supporting frequencies from 400 MHz to 6 GHz. The health system’s very dense deployment of WLAN devices and applications includes 600 VoWLAN phones for nurses and respiratory therapists, 240 wireless VoWLAN pendants, 300 mobile computers, paging, public Internet access, and more than 100,000 square feet of wireless medical telemetry throughout the hospital.
By properly engineering its wireless infrastructure, hospitals can mitigate risk by both controlling and monitoring their wireless airspace. Segregating and prioritizing WLAN traffic enables patient safety by delivering the required performance for medical devices and clinical workflows, all while providing patients, guests, and others with the wireless services they want and need on a single wireless platform.
“The joint FDA/FCC meeting and the pending IEC 80001 standard form an excellent starting point for ensuring that hospital executives commit to creating processes that explicitly look at risk in the fullest context possible,” said McCoy. “The FDA and FCC can help steer the healthcare industry onto a path that stresses compatibility of multiple medical devices within a network-centric environment. Everyone in healthcare needs to consider a reference architecture not for one specific service, but for all services required by the hospital’s constituencies.”
About InnerWireless
InnerWireless is the premier end-to-end in-building wireless solution provider for healthcare, enterprise, hospitality/gaming and government markets. With Horizon™ – a broadband, Converged Wireless platform – InnerWireless ensures the delivery of Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) services including cellular/PCS, fire/life/safety, Wi-Fi and medical telemetry – guaranteed. Designed expressly for mission- and life-critical wireless applications, Horizon’s comprehensive, antenna infrastructure enables pervasive coverage and optimized capacity with an eco-friendly “green” design and an industry leading warranty. InnerWireless also collaborates with key industry partners to enable the delivery of turnkey solutions. For more information about InnerWireless, visit www.innerwireless.com.
CONTACT:
Tony Katsulos
Jetstream PR for InnerWireless
Phone: 972.788.9456, ext. 301
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Texas
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Technology Data Management Health Hospitals Medical Devices Mobile/Wireless Professional Services Other Professional Services
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