Imagine if the real-time location system (RTLS) software suppliers expanded their reach and respective platforms to handle the credentialing of vendor sales representatives and other service professionals entering and roaming around healthcare facility environs?

It’s not so far-fetched a thought. So Healthcare Purchasing News posed that question to prominent RTLS executives. Here’s what they had to say.

"RFID ID cards (or PIN numbers) can be issued to vendors, and they can be required to scan into the system so that their transactions can be tracked, as RTLS would track any item level device/supply as it moves through, or indeed out of, the hospital. [However], no, we are not trying to [compete with the vendor credentialing software companies.] We are purely focused on the vendor’s interaction with inventory. Did they bring anything in, or take anything out? Where did they put it, and what requisition does it relate to? We are not interested in whether or not they are on the campus, or who they are seeing. If a vendor ‘borrows’ an implant for example, to pass to another hospital that needs it urgently, this can create significant issues with registration of the implant/patient, either immediately or when the replacement is delivered back to the original site."

"Vendor credentialing is becoming increasingly critical for larger facilities to ensure the safety of staff, patients and visitors. CenTrak is unique in that our visibility platform is often deployed solely to support people-tracking use cases. Clinical-grade RTLS delivers precise room-level and sub-room level accuracy, and integrates with safety and security infrastructure. Access control, facility security, staff duress and precise location tracking is all integrated in a single tag or visitor badge. CenTrak badges may be configured to prevent visitors from accessing restricted areas or to generate alerts when visitors loiter in specified areas. If integration with vendor credentialing software is desired, CenTrak offers an open API, enabling location, and security information to be fed directly to facility-owned applications, streamlining visitor sign-in and sign-out process."

"The seemingly easy answer here is to incorporate RTLS technology into ID badges and require every representative to wear one of these badges when they enter the facility. But is it realistic to expect an industry representative to carry and manage 40 or 50 different badges? Would they be as effective if they were disposable and re-issued every time a rep entered the hospital? It quickly becomes complicated. It’s not impossible to do, but you have to think that greater value might be found in implementing this technology elsewhere in healthcare."

"While a number of hospitals have expressed concern about the vendor employees moving freely about their facilities, we haven’t yet seen any hospital integrate their RTLS program with a vendor credentialing solution to solve this issue. The good news is that it is possible to have vendors wear an RTLS badge upon checking into a site, giving hospitals the ability to track their movements. Along with providing additional security, this can be especially important for helping to prevent the outbreak of infections: Hospitals can identify if the vendor visited potential infection sites and determine if they might be at risk for spreading the disease. They can also track loaner equipment that the vendors might be dropping off and picking up.

"Ideally, this tracking system should be developed as part of the RTLS system already in place within a hospital. From there, the RTLS software can be integrated to the standard vendor credentialing systems to link each RTLS badge to the individual vendor’s ID and their relevant medical information."

"For hospitals that use RTLS for staff tracking-related workflows, it is possible to add vendor personnel to the system/database to track entry, exit and location activities, as well as setting up real-time notifications (emails, pages, etc.) to the departments that require it. The possibilities for this type of workflow exists, and would require some integration and/or interface effort between a facility’s RTLS applications and the vendor credentialing partner they work with.   

"Vendormate supports any solution that streamlines the compliance process for providers and suppliers. RTLS manufacturers may have the opportunity to play a part in identifying supplier representatives who are physically onsite at a healthcare organization. Credentialing, however, is much more than a simple visitor log. The process involves ensuring that requirements are in place and adhered to, as well as appropriate for the purpose of the visit, up to date, aligned with current provider policies and accurate for the specific individual and their company. The services provided by Vendormate will remain critical to meeting our provider and supplier customers’ needs in these areas."

"In principle, we welcome any ideas which would improve quality patient care because we recognize that all of us, at one point or another, will be patients or visitors at a healthcare facility."