Intelligent Observation
Revolutionizing Hand Hygiene Compliance

Hand hygiene is the easiest and most effective way to break the transmission chain of harmful germs. Since hands are one of the most dangerous “vectors” of disease in a healthcare setting, inattention to that aspect may significantly contribute to hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HAIs are a $30 billion-a-year problem for the U.S. healthcare system, leading to over 100,000 deaths annually.

While most healthcare organizations believe they are doing their part to ensure hand hygiene compliance and nip the spread of HAI in the bud, the hard reality is they are not. According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, compliance with hand hygiene standards among healthcare workers in the U.S. is below 50-percent.

Intelligent Observation (IO) aims to change this narrative.

The single most important, easiest, and least expensive means of complying with hygiene standards is ensuring that every healthcare worker washes or sanitizes their hands before and after attending to a patient

“The single most important, easiest, and least expensive means of complying with hygiene standards is ensuring that every healthcare worker washes or sanitizes their hands before and after attending to a patient,” says Seth Freedman, CEO and Founder of Intelligent Observation.

However, why is this seemingly simple but crucial task often difficult to monitor and manage? Why does complete hand hygiene compliance remain an elusive goal for most healthcare organizations?

The main reason is that most hospitals rely on costly, time-consuming, and inaccurate visual observation methods to improve hand hygiene compliance. Even though the correlation between monitoring hand hygiene and reducing HAIs has been known for about 200 years, no company in the electronic hand hygiene monitoring space has been able to solve the problem, until now.

IO has developed a patented platform that replaces the age-old visual observation methods for monitoring hand hygiene compliance with technology. The cost-effective, innovative electronic hand hygiene monitoring system helps healthcare staff and patients combat HAIs and create a safer hospital environment.

How it all Began…

Freedman’s curiosity and passion for innovation are at the core of IO’s drive to push the envelope of hand hygiene monitoring. Having understood the shortcomings of existing solutions, Freedman went on to explore ways to leverage technologies, including the readily-available RFID and Bluetooth technologies for monitoring hand hygiene.

Soon, he realized that these technologies were ineffective for this use case for a number of reasons including the fact that the frequencies they use are absorbed by liquids. This is important since all monitoring solutions require a device on a healthcare workers body and the human body is more than 50-percent liquid.

It was Freedman’s encounter with the concept of the key fob and push-button ignition at an automotive dealership that propelled his endeavor forward. He discovered that near-field magnetic induction (NFMI), the technology that powers the automotive concept, could be used in hand hygiene monitoring devices as it operates on a frequency that passes through liquids. In 2019, Freedman founded IO with a goal to develop and offer a unique platform powered by NFMI technology that can track and improve hand hygiene compliance.

Three years ago, IO piloted its solution in two hospitals, and today it has contracts with more than 70 hospitals.

Delivering Value through Innovation

What makes IO stand out in the market is the accuracy of its solution. Leveraging its patented NFMI technology, IO precisely records every single hand hygiene compliance event in a healthcare facility. IO’s solution uses NFMI’s centimeter-level proximity detection capability to capture compliance data through sensors placed near doors, beds, and hand hygiene dispensers, and a wearable device–a smart badge holder–used by healthcare professionals. The company transfers this information to the cloud and delivers timely, audible, real-time, point-of-patient care alerts to remind workers to follow cleanliness procedures before and after attending to patients.

In this way, IO provides C-suite executives, infection prevention teams, and quality and safety leaders at healthcare facilities with granular and actionable insights into their current hand hygiene compliance standards. The solution comes with a dashboard that provides data on hand hygiene at the individual worker, room, unit/ward, or facility-wide level.

Through its solution, IO allows hospital management to monitor every healthcare worker’s entry and exit from an infected patient’s room and/or around a patient bedzone and take requisite action against any staff member’s non-compliant hand hygiene behavior. IO’s solution acts as a tool for immediate intervention, helping management teams ensure that all personnel strictly abide by the facility guidelines and effectuate behavioral change.

A Breakthrough Solution for Hospitals

Packed with powerful capabilities, IO’s solution is the first-ever hand hygiene compliance monitoring and asset tracking “as-a -service” in the market. The company offers its proprietary hardware, software, and artificial intelligence system to hospitals under an annual subscription agreement that includes equipment installation, servicing, and maintenance. The solution automates and improves the hand hygiene compliance process for approximately the same cost as visual observation.

IO also provides customers with a robust account management function, delegating its professionals to visit hospitals on a weekly basis to meet with leadership groups and infection prevention teams to educate them on ways to improve hand hygiene. These professionals also help the different teams understand the compliance data delivered by the system, ensure they are utilizing it to improve hand hygiene compliance, and validate the resulting reduction in HAIs.

IO boasts a near 100-percent re-subscription rate, which further underscores the prowess of its solution. More than 70 hospitals across the U.S., including HCA Healthcare, LifePoint Health, Hackensack Meridian Health Network and Memorial Healthcare System, have subscribed to IO’s solution in the effort to raise their hand hygiene compliance rate to 100-percent.

In one instance, IO partnered with a hospital that was trying to combat increasing HAIs, despite recording a compliance rate of over 90-percent through the visual observation method. Upon realizing that the value was inaccurate, the hospital engaged with IO to gain deeper insights into their employees’ hand hygiene practices. Within the first 30 days of the partnership, IO revealed that the client’s actual compliance rate was around 40-percent. Apart from alerting the staff, IO also began a data-sharing campaign with the leadership team of each hospital department and raised the compliance level to over 80-percent. The client also saved more than $4 million in a year, which would have been spent on reducing HAIs.

Roots of IO’s Excellence

“The perfect combination of our technology and our ability to present the data in the right manner to help hospitals change non-complaint behavior is what makes us the best in the industry,” remarks Freedman. Coupled with this, the sheer dedication of its highly talented team of professionals with deep-rooted industry expertise has enabled IO to grow aggressively over the last three years. “The secret sauce of our business is a culture of being extremely service-oriented,” Freedman adds.

Having achieved the product-market fit through its initial customers, IO has been successfully replicating the value of its unique solution at a reasonable price. Sustaining its winning streak, the company continues to strengthen its position as a leader in the market by creating safer healthcare facilities.