A dime-sized Bluetooth and infra-red tag from New York-based Kontakt.io can drive efficiencies in patient flow, care coordination and operations.

The Patient Flow offering, delivered as a service, is powered by the Nano Tag IR (kontakt.io/products/physical/for-people/#nano-tag-ir), said to be the world’s smallest disposable, wearable Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag equipped with IR. Compatible with hospital wristbands and ergonomic to wear, the tag locates patients in real time at the hospital room level.

Patient Flow (kontakt.io/solutions/healthcare/patient-experience/#patient-flow) is designed for rapid and cost-efficient deployment at the enterprise scale. It tracks the live patient journey from admission to discharge, and reveals bottlenecks. Beyond knowing where patients are and improving operational efficiencies, it integrates EHR and RTLS data from the healthcare facility, delivering AI data analytics to uncover answers health systems don’t but should ask about.

Use cases include: analysing ambulatory flow efficiency; monitoring patient wait times, room availability and clinician time; monitoring clinician time in the patient room; monitoring patient rounding and automating documentation; informing rounding physicians of patient room occupancy; preventing patient elopement in memory care; informing HVAC services of patient room occupancy for energy-saving; and automating patient discharge, sanitation workflows and room preparation.

“The patient journey is paved with enormous waste and inefficiencies, costing health systems millions of dollars,” said Rom Eizenberg, head of product innovation at Kontakt.io. “Kontakt.io’s Patient Flow, powered by the Nano Tag IR’s room-level accuracy, is solving this acute problem. By removing sand grains hiding in the joints, Kontakt.io helps eliminate friction from care delivery and ensures a safer and smoother patient journey.”

Kontakt.io optimises processes and resources by revealing how patients move through care delivery. Using AI, IoT and RTLS, it lets healthcare systems uncover waste, streamline capacity and improve workflows, helping staff and patients feel seen and valued. Since 2013, Kontakt.io has provided products and services to more than 32,000 end users, delivered via 1200 partners, and deployed four million IoT devices in the field.