Mentor Hospital in Lake County, Ohio, opened earlier this month with Cleveland Clinic’s first private 5G network, a 5G mmWave network built on the Ericsson platform.
In addition to several patient engagement touchpoints, health systems say they are also turning to private cellular networks to meet healthcare demands for high speeds, low latency, and the need for cybersecurity.
Private 5G offers additional features
According to an announcement this month, Cleveland Clinic has positioned Mentor Hospital as a “hospital of the future” with a consumer-centric patient experience from the exam room to the operating room.
Operated by Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, Mentor Hospital is designed to serve patients with less critical needs who are expected to have a shorter length of stay and receive follow-up care at home. The hospital has 34 inpatient/observation rooms, 23 outpatient rooms, 19 emergency department beds, 12 pre- and post-anesthesia care beds and four operating rooms, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“Mentor Hospital is a new hospital concept based on the needs of our communities and supports our goal of providing the best possible care and experience for all of our patients,” said Cleveland Clinic CEO & CEO said Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, President and CEO of Morton L. Mandel. Chair.
The new hospital will be equipped with high-speed networks and provide patient-engagement touchpoints such as information and education kiosks and infotainment (TV, movies, games, internet) in patient rooms. The network is used for administrative functions such as asset tracking.
But compared to what private 5G would mean across Cleveland Clinic’s portfolio, Thomas said, that’s “a low-hanging fruit.”
Tomorrow’s wireless network
“This is a small site and a test bed,” he said Healthcare IT News on Thursday.
5G mmWave gives IT teams the opportunity to explore many use cases.
Verizon’s private 5G network can support augmented reality and virtual reality for clinical and patient education, quickly share large-scale medical images, and more.
Though Thomas notes it’s still early in the effort, Cleveland Clinic IT experts are already scheduling cross-team workshops to discuss the medical challenges 5G might solve.
“With high-speed imaging, demand will increase over time,” he said.
Another area is home hospital programs.
“That’s where private networks are a great fit,” Thomas says.
Beyond use cases, private 5G networks could be used for mission-critical functions that currently rely on wired connections, he explained.
“This partnership supports our long-term vision for a fully digital hospital infrastructure,” Cleveland Clinic Chief Information Officer Matthew Kull said in Verizon’s April rollout announcement. I am.
“Providing facilities with 5G high bandwidth can improve efficiency, ensure continuity of care as patients transition home, and improve the overall experience for caregivers and patients,” he said. ” he said.
Private 5G networks are completely invisible, so they are “inherently more secure,” Thomas added.
Can support large number of connections
Cleveland Clinic already relied on FirstNet for certain mission-critical phones, but most of its wireless and communications services are offered through Verizon, making it a better fit for a private 5G partnership, Thomas said.
At the moment, 5G networks are typically installed in crowded urban areas.
According to the GSMA’s November report on best practices for 5G mmWave deployment, the mobile industry body says typical 5G networks use low- and mid-band spectrum in the frequency range of 600 MHz to 6 GHz. .
“While sub-6 GHz 5G is faster than 4G LTE, it does not offer the ultra-fast data speeds or capacity that can be achieved with mmWave,” the group said in a technical document.
“Additionally, both 4G LTE and sub-6 GHz speeds can be significantly reduced when a large number of devices are connected to the network.”
5G private networks operate at frequencies above 24 GHz and can therefore deliver multi-gigabit data rates with very low latency, the GSMA said.
Given its size, Mentor Hospital offers bariatric surgery, cardiology, gastroenterology, general surgery, colorectal surgery, vascular surgery, urology, respiratory medicine, orthopedics, sports medicine, as well as laboratory services and diagnostic imaging. We have an extensive list of outpatient services, including services.
Thomas said that at this time, the new 5G network does not serve medical or IoT devices, but the company is considering using its equipment on Cleveland Clinic’s new private 5G network. He said that several manufacturers have already expressed interest in the partnership.
“There has been a lack of opportunity in the past, and this will be a new opportunity,” Thomas said.
Andrea Fox is a senior editor at Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
