ATLANTA, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Visiting Nurse Association of Florida, Inc. (VNA of Florida) has selected Cingular Wireless to help improve its wireless capabilities to provide an even higher level of care for its thousands of homebound patients.
VNA of Florida clinical staff, including nurses, and physical and occupational therapists, are now using Audiovox 4100 Pocket PC mobile devices powered by Cingular’s nationwide wireless data network to remotely access patient visit schedules, update patient clinical records and billing information, and receive patient care directives from physicians. Cingular operates the largest digital wireless voice and data network in the nation.
Stuart-based VNA of Florida began distributing 275 devices loaded with Homecare Homebase software to employees located throughout its 13-county service area in late December 2004. The rollout was completed within three weeks.
“Everyone who is using the Cingular Wireless solution is happier than they could have imagined,” said Donald Crow, CEO of VNA of Florida. “Our initial expectations certainly have been exceeded.”
VNA of Florida has experienced a significant drop in the time its clinical staff spends on the road -- and a corresponding increase in their job satisfaction -- because they can now download their daily schedules and update patient information on their Pocket PCs rather than drive to the office to pick up and drop off paper files. It also has seen a dramatic reduction in paperwork -- relieving both field and office staff.
“Our patient files have gone from being six inches thick to having just a few pieces of paper in them,” Crow explained. “If you can cut down on the amount of paperwork that’s required, it makes everything easier, cleaner and more efficient.”
VNA switched to Cingular from a solution provided by a combination of other wireless carriers. The solution required users to tether a PDA to a wireless phone but even then users had to synchronize their devices at the end of the day to receive important e-mails from physicians, and perform other functions.
“The system we were using was expensive, bulky and not time efficient or user-friendly -- and neither of the carriers we had been using could provide us with the coverage we needed throughout our service area,” Crow said. “Now that we have switched to Cingular, we are seeing improvements in user satisfaction and productivity by our field staff. When we can make our field staff happier, we can improve our patient care.”
Cingular Wireless offers home care and hospice providers industry-leading solutions for cost-effectively improving productivity and patient care across a broad variety of certified mobile devices, including palmOne(TM) Treo(TM), Siemens SX 66 and Audiovox 4100 Pocket PC handheld devices and Sierra Wireless 775 and Sony Ericsson GC83 EDGE PC Modem Cards for laptops.
Cingular serves 95 of the Fortune 100 companies and counts more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500, including leading healthcare providers and payors, and over 1,200 federal, state and local government agencies as customers.
ABOUT CINGULAR WIRELESS
Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving more than 49 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corporation , has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(SM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(SM), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at < http://www.cingular.com/ > . Get Cingular Wireless press releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at < http://www.cingular.com/newsroom > .
Cingular Wireless
CONTACT: John Kampfe of Cingular Wireless, +1-908-696-4536, or wireless,+1-908-432-3473