Grace Health System can view the collected temperature data in real time, as well as for analytics purposes, says Stephanie Andersen, a ZulaFly managing partner.

Located in Lubbock Texas, Grace Medical Center receives approximately 11,000 patient visits annually and has a total of 980 admissions. A year ago, the hospital launched an oncology unit that requires its high-value chemotherapy drugs to be stored at specific temperatures. Nearly half a million dollars' worth of those medications are kept cool within two refrigeration units, says Christopher Winn, Grace Health System's director of business development and purchasing.

Temperature control has always been a priority for the hospital, Winn says, but until recently, staff members checked those units' temperatures manually, writing down the details and identifying any fluctuations that could damage the contents. The hospital's managers were interested in RTLS technology, he adds, and how it could be used to monitor temperatures, as well as assets and hand hygiene. Given the high value of the facility's oncology drugs, management decided to first try using an RTLS solution to monitor the coolers, and to later consider an installation to track high-value assets. "We thought we would start with the most critical part," Winn states, "which was temperature monitoring."

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