The First Facility Management Blog

In an effort to eliminate the challenge of surgeons, nurses, and support staff from fumbling with ID badges through scrubs or forgetting them, Promedica Health System’s (PHS) Sylvania, Ohio-based hospital’s surgery room grants door entry access through hypoallergenic/ antimicrobial coated biometric hand readers. The access control system increases entry speed in critical situations and most importantly creates a highly secure entry beyond card swipe technology that also allows PHS central security personnel to monitor and record through the hospital’s Frontier access control system software from Matrix Systems.

Registration is a two minute process in Flower Hospital’s security center. Surgery room personnel enroll with a biometric hand scan by an identical model of the Hand Key II by Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies (IRST). The hand scan template is processed and attached to the employee’s security ID profile in the Frontier access control software. Matrix Systems’ PHS account supervisor, William Kuebler, engineered the project and coordinated firmware writing by Matrix Systems’ engineering department. Consequently, the interface between the IRST’s Hand Key II software and the access control software was seamless and now enables Flower Hospital’s security manager, Jonathan Jones, easy control over the enrollment procedure. Once enrolled, the employees enter the surgery room via the Hand Key II’s keypad code followed by a biometric hand scan in a process that spans five seconds or less.  

While the surgery room access is a success, PHS’ lock shop is used as a beta site to test biometric hand readers for future applications, which will be brought on line in additional sensitive security locations in the future. 

Biometrics is just one example of security that Donald Sullivan, security system technology specialist, and James Hofbauer, security director, both of PHS’ Central Region, are continually incorporating into the eight hospital, not for profit healthcare organization that services 27 counties in northwest and west central Ohio and southeast Michigan.

Another example is the Toledo Hospital campus’ 145 space physician parking lot/garage. Previously physicians had to swipe ID cards or punch in ID numbers at an access control card reader to enter the facility. Now physicians have windshield attached transponders that allow a more convenient and quicker entry. Because the wireless RF system sends entry information directly to the security department’s access control workstation, physicians are logged in immediately upon entering the campus. “If there’s an emergency and a need for a particular doctor, we know if that doctor is on campus,” said Hofbauer. “Plus, doctors are our customers too, so this is also a convenience for them because they no longer need to worry about remembering ID numbers or cards.”

The worldwide RFID market will exceed $5.3 billion in 2008, according to a new forecast from ABI Research. Annual revenue growth will increase over the next five years, accelerating over the mid-term as high growth, high volume applications, such as supply chain management, ID documents, ticketing, and contactless payment, drive shipments.

Excluding automobile immobilization, the market is expected to experience a 15% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2008 through 2013. Forecasts peg the market at $9.8 billion in 2013, or approximately $8.2 billion without automobile immobilization.

According to research director Michael Liard, “To a casual observer the five year CAGR for the RFID market as a whole may not seem impressive at face value. In this case, however, ABI Research notes that traditional applications with single digit and low double digit five year compound annual growth rates continue to dominate current and near term RFID market revenue share. In terms of overall market growth, if these ‘traditional’ applications—access control, automatic vehicle identification, automobile immobilization, and ID documents—are removed from the equation, the 2008-2013 CAGR for total RFID systems revenue exceeds 20%.”

ABI Research believes it is still too early to tell what impact the state of the global economy will have on the RFID market. Investments are still being made in RFID companies, consolidation continues, and contracts are being awarded. Liard cautions, “We understand that the impact of economic events is often not immediate, however, and we expect to be in a better position to gauge how the economy is impacting RFID adoption and spending at the end of the year. In our opinion it often takes three to six months for any economic impact to be felt. Many of the vendors and users we have asked about a potential slowdown indicate no real change in RFID projects as yet.”

The latest release of ABI Research’s RFID Forecasts provides extensive data on RFID revenues and unit shipments, segmented by technology, application, and vertical market (aerospace & defense, automotive, commercial services, diverse manufacturing, government [non-military], health care/life sciences, retail consumer packaged goods [CPG], retail in store, transportation & logistics, and “other”). It is a component of the firm’s RFID & Contactless Research Service.