When UMass treats patients for an opioid overdose, it often sends them home with naloxone in the form of a nasal spray that they can use to counteract the effects of another overdose, should that occur. The medication, also known by the brand name Narcan, is covered by most insurance plans, but doctors have no way of knowing with certainty how far the medication goes with patients on their way home, the hospital says.

In some cases, patients may not be convinced they'll need it, and discard the drug before even leaving the hospital. Because the incidence of opioid overdoses continues to rise, the medical center says it wishes to determine whether its patients take the naloxone home with them.

The hospital plans to deploy a real-time location system (RTLS), provided by Visybl, to ascertain whether the medication makes it off the campus. The organization will attach Visybl's bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons to medication cartons and install CloudNodes (Visybl's BLE gateway devices for capturing beacon transmissions) at the hospital's exit — at a roundabout where cars pass and at the facility's bus stop.

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