Phoenix, Arizona and Redhill, UK, 15 February 2008 – US healthcare infotainment specialists 5Plus3 Digital Inc. and UK patient bedside terminal specialists JAOtech today announced a partnership with a clear goal of bringing converged telephone, television and internet services to 10,000 hospital beds across the USA within a year. The partnership is being inaugurated at the HIMSS08 event in California.
According to Alex Downie, CEO of 5Plus3 Digital, “Our mission is to make the converged entertainment and communications services that patients enjoy when in their homes, businesses and schools available to them when they stay in healthcare facilities of all kinds. The partnership with JAOtech completes the package that we offer, giving us an outstanding portal to deliver those services to the patients bedside. The JAOtech terminal was specifically designed for the hospital context, and fully meets the standards and regulations required by the US healthcare industry.”
Warren Kressinger-Dunn, Managing Director of JAOtech is excited about his partnership with 5Plus3 and commented, “5Plus3 have an exciting and ambitious business plan, which would see it to equip 10,000 hospital beds in the USA within a year. Over half of UK hospital beds already have triple play terminals installed. We can see the will and the drive in the US healthcare industry to bring such functionality to hospitals nationwide. In parternship, 5plus3 and JAOtech have the energy and the know-how to deliver this, and we are already working together on several major potential installations.”
5Plus3 Digital Inc. has developed patented, innovative converged solutions that address the fast-growing demand from patients for entertainment and communications options during their stay in health institutions. The 5Plus3 solution delivers these bedside services from a central, secure backbone that is independent of existing hospital Information Technology systems. The first set of services include television, telephone and internet, which can be readily extended to include secure access to medical records and other clinical and hospital housekeeping functions. These packaged solutions can generate new streams of revenue for hospitals and other medical facilities.
JAOtech terminals are the only PCs specifically designed to UL60601 standards for hygenic hospital ward environments, and featuring sealed construction suitable for deep cleaning with standard hospital detergents. Its terminals are manufactured using plastics injected with Novaron, a silver based inorganic anti-microbial agent approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and employed in numerous antimicrobial products both in Japan and overseas.
JAOtech terminals are supplied as a one-piece unit, with all of the electronics and a touch screen contained in a single case sealed to IP65 at the front and IP64 at the back. JAOtech has tested its hardware for exposure to most cleaning agents used in hospitals including Alcohol, Methylene Chloride, Methyl Ethyl Ketone and Acetone. Although many options are available for the unit, for hospital use the recommended specification uses an on-screen keyboard rather than a separate unit, and no loudspeakers. A key feature of the design is its low power consumption, which eliminates the need for a fan with an associated ventilation grille. JAOtech terminals can be specified with a host of options, including biometrics and/or RFID to support secure access for patients and hospital staff.