US Air Force Medical Service Selects Shipcom Wireless For Major Healthcare RFID Contract

Healthcare IT provider wins multi-million dollar, multi-year technology contract at Keesler Medical Center, Biloxi, MS

Houston, TX. – May, 20th, 2008 - Shipcom Wireless, Inc., a leading global provider of enterprise and healthcare solutions, announced today that they have been selected by the Air Force Surgeon General’s Office to review the current uses of RFID technology across the Air Force Medical Service and then pilot RFID systems to improve clinical operations at the Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Mr. David Baker, a clinical engineer with the Air Force Surgeon General’s office noted that this project “expands from just asset tracking to tracking lab specimens, medications, and possibly patients. When we first presented the concept and potential applications of RFID technology to the Air Force Surgeon General, he quickly saw potential value on the clinical side. The biggest shortfall to this point is the lack of a well defined business case that clearly shows the technology saves bottom line dollars”. 

The project will involve a baseline assessment of the existing implementations of RFID at Air Force medical centers, using Shipcom’s HOCAM™ (Hospital Operational & Clinical Assessment Model).  This assessment will be followed by recommendations on how the Air Force can most effectively utilize RFID and related technologies to improve patient care and make clinical processes more efficient.  Finally, Shipcom will model and implement specific RFID solutions at Keesler Medical Center using Shipcom’s x/Care™ suite of healthcare applications, including the patient care module p/Care™ and the Asset Management module a/Care™.

“Like the rest of the healthcare industry, our military’s care system is in the process of modernizing its IT infrastructure and they are taking all possible steps to ensure patient safety and improve hospital management,” said John Shoemaker, President of Shipcom.  “Shipcom’s healthcare solution is a core component of that objective.  We are extremely proud to be selected by the Air Force and to be a part of this defining program for all the military services.”

The initial phase of this multi-year project will begin with Shipcom doing an extensive study across numerous military hospitals, including the Keesler Medical Center, to analyze process bottlenecks and technology challenges. This innovative and far reaching contract will enable Shipcom to produce model applications that can be replicated across military hospitals and other healthcare establishments supported by sound business cases.

“We believe that most healthcare organizations – both military and civilian – face similar challenges when it comes to ensuring patient safety and improving efficiency. The ‘x2/ Care’ suite of applications have been developed with a deep-rooted understanding of these challenges,” said Scott Cobb, Senior Vice President of Federal and Healthcare Systems.  “It is our honor to be able to provide technology that helps ensure patient safety and increase process efficiency at our military hospitals.”

Joe White, Vice President of Business Development for Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business, comments that “Motorola is excited to be a technology partner with Shipcom Wireless.  We have been working with Shipcom’s solution suites for several years to provide truly integrated RFID technologies to their Healthcare and Enterprise practices”.

Shipcom is pleased to work with partners like Motorola to deliver new solutions to benefit both active and retired personnel of our Armed Forces with the most advanced health care possible. This new contract will be the basis for delivering an entirely new level of capability using RFID and other means for data capture, management, and clinical visibility.

About Shipcom

Shipcom provides identification and tracking solutions that include advanced and hybrid Auto-ID technologies (AIDC), designed to address the two key healthcare challenges of ensuring Patient Safety & increasing Operational Efficiency. Our x2 / Care suite of healthcare solutions is designed on an adaptive framework enabling multiple technologies to integrate real-time data across a hospital’s disparate infrastructure.  Shipcom has more than eleven years experience in developing composite mobility and RFID applications for operational visibility, workflow simplification, real time dashboards, and process rules management for world class enterprises. Shipcom focuses on providing real ROI value that impact key business drivers and processes: costs, revenue, security, and customer satisfaction. Shipcom is headquartered in Houston, TX, with its regional offices in Boston, Charlotte, Toronto and Dubai.

Shipcom has satisfied customers in over 22 countries with hundreds of customer sites with real operational deployments. The company is comprised of experts in SAP, Oracle and other back-end IT System software, and various types of RFID, AIDC and Mobility applications.

About Keesler Medical Center

Keesler Air Force Base boasts one of the largest medical treatment facilities in the Air Force.  Home to the 81st Medical Group, the Keesler Medical Center contains a 78-bed inpatient hospital, outpatient clinics, a clinical research laboratory and aeromedical facilities to serve Air Force, Army and Navy bases in the southeastern United States.  Staffed by more than 1,300 people, the facility serves nearly 11,000 active duty personnel and 47,000 eligible beneficiaries in the Gulf Coast area.  Its clinics see about 20,000 patients each month. 

The medical center also trains medical and dental residents in seven specialties.  Keesler's general surgery and internal medicine residency programs were reaccredited and restarted in the summer of 2006.  With a new partnership with the University of Mississippi and the continued return of Airmen to Keesler, the medical center expects to resume Pediatric and OB/GYN residents' rotations in the summer of 2009.  Keesler has restarted its three dental residency programs.  Advanced Education in General Dentistry resumed in 2006, while the general practice residency and endodontics returned in 2007. 

Keesler is also the Air Force's second largest mobility mission, deploying expeditionary medical support teams around the world.  The Joint Commission fully accredited Keesler Medical Center in 2007.  It is an ideal location for coordinated pilot projects. 

Contact Information:
Sam Falsafi
sfalsafi@shipcomwireless.com
Tel: +1 713 470 8283