Beaumont Health System Extends PACS and VoIP to Mobile MRI/PET Unit with Mobile Access Network Based on Aruba MOVE Architecture
Leading healthcare provider speeds time to treatment and lowers costs with mobile access network HIMSS
– Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN) today announced that Beaumont Health System is using a mobile access network based on the Aruba Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture for communications and data transmission with its mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) unit (enclosed in a large, specially-designed trailer) that serves Beaumont’s community-based medical centers.
“Innovative providers like Beaumont are taking maximum advantage of the opportunities afforded them by mobile access network technology to improve the quality and speed of care delivery to their patients”
The Aruba wireless access network is used to deliver all of the images (which can number up to 300 per patient) from the unit to the hospital’s
picture archiving and communication system (PACS). It also carries IP voice traffic, not limited to the hospitals and clinics themselves. Until recently, the MRI/PET unit’s arrival would require the driver of the unit to physically connect the trailer to a hospital network connection for all voice and data transmission. This approach could be unreliable due to disrupted physical connections and also consumed valuable time, delaying the unit’s use for patient diagnostic imaging. Beaumont worked with Aruba Networks partner Delta Networks to deploy a mobile access solution that would take the place of the physical network connections. With Delta’s help, the hospital deployed a centrally-located Aruba 3200 Mobility Controller and Aruba AP-124s with external antennas deployed at the locations the mobile MRI/PET unit serves. This increased reliability and productivity due to rapid deployment, reduced downtime and enabled high-quality voice applications to run over the same access network. “Now we can see more patients in a day and we no longer get calls saying that the mobile unit and the PACS are disconnected,” said Mark Taylor, communication network manager at Beaumont. “The workflow has been greatly simplified and the unit is more productive.” Beaumont Health System is a three-hospital regional health system with a total of 1,726 licensed beds, more than 14,000 full-time equivalent employees and 3,700 physicians. In addition to its hospitals, Beaumont has numerous community-based medical centers, family practice and internal medicine practices, five nursing centers, a research institute, home care services and a hospice. Beaumont is the exclusive clinical teaching site for the
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. “Innovative providers like Beaumont are taking maximum advantage of the opportunities afforded them by mobile access network technology to improve the quality and speed of care delivery to their patients,” said Gerard Festa, director of healthcare solutions at Aruba. “This use model is another great example of how mobility is changing care delivery.”