HID acquires GuardRFID to expand healthcare offering with RTLS solutions

The acquisition of GuardRFID will grow HID’s RTLS portfolio through enhanced active RFID technology, supporting new use cases for infant security, staff duress, asset tracking, and wandering patients in the healthcare sector, explains the business.

GuardRFID is a provider of real-time location services (RTLS) hardware and software solutions in the healthcare space. The addition of GuardRFID is set to expand HID’s offering and relevance in the active RFID and RTLS space, including the support for new use cases catered to the needs of healthcare facilities.

“Bringing GuardRFID and its innovative RTLS technology into the HID family allows us to enhance our healthcare presence to better protect patients and staff,” said Björn Lidefelt, EVP and Head of HID. “As incidents in healthcare facilities continue to rise, these solutions will help providers do what they do best – making their patients feel better, faster.”

GuardRFID’s suite of active RFID tags, readers, exciters and software support four primary use cases important to the healthcare market, including:

• Infant Security: The TotGuard infant security system prevents infant abduction and mother-baby mismatches by providing wearable tags for mothers and infants. The system works in conjunction with both a hospital’s access control and network video systems.
• Staff Duress: 44% of nurses experience physical violence in the workplace, according to the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses. Small, lightweight active RFID tags equipped with a call button can be worn on a wristband or lanyard to help protect healthcare workers in the event of duress.
• Asset Tracking: RFID tags are used to provide the real-time visibility of healthcare assets and enable staff to quickly find the equipment they need. This improves asset utilization, saves labour costs, and reduces theft.
• Patient Wandering: At-risk patients, such as the elderly or those struggling with mental health, are tagged and become instantly detected at exit doors, stairwells, and elevators. The doors can be configured to lock and sound alarms when the tags are detected in proximity, offering an extra level of protection to these patients and their caregivers.

“Incorporating GuardRFID into HID’s Identification Technologies grows and reasserts our expansion as a major player in the healthcare industry,” added Marc Bielmann, SVP and Head of IdentificationTechnologies, HID. “This acquisition, along with our growing portfolio of RTLS and active RFID solutions, provides new and existing healthcare clients with even more options to protect their patients and staff.”

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, GuardRFID is now part of HID’s Identification Technologies Business Area. The offering will merge into HID’s Internet of Things (IoT) Business Unit and benefit from HID’s sales and other global functions to support its offering.

“At GuardRFID we have build a solid reputation for high-quality Healthcare solutions and outstanding service for our customers and partners. We are excited to join the HID team and believe it will enhance our ability to compete and grow our market share in the North American Healthcare market. Having the brand and resources of HID coupled with our solutions will make us a leader in the industry,” said Kerry Brock, President & CRO of GuardRFID.