CHELMSFORD, MA – A developer of passive RFID systems with a foothold in several industries is teaming up with established vendor AeroScout to enter the healthcare market.

Reva Systems, based in Chelmsford, Mass., is debuting its Reva-4-Healthcare package at next week’s HIMSS09 show and conference in Chicago. The company’s passive RFID system, which uses antennas instead of battery packs to track objects and people, has been designed to integrate with AeroScout’s MobileView RTLS (real time location system) track-and-trace application platform.

Ashley Stephenson, Reva’s co-founder and chairman, said the company was formed four years ago and has been involved in several industries, including food preparation, shipping and postal services. He said Reva and AeroScout “met up on some common opportunities” and launched a partnership a year ago to develop Reva-4-Healthcare.

While active RFID systems rely on a battery pack roughly the size of a business card, passive systems rely only on antennas and can be much smaller. Stephenson sees the system being used to track patients and staff – through badges or wristbands – as well as equipment like gurneys, wheelchairs, fluid bags, medications and stents.

“This brings the opportunity to tag more items and track more items,” he said.

Stephenson foresees future uses for passive RFID systems in a healthcare setting in tracking specimen samples, blood bags and breast milk, as well as outpatient services. He also expects that the data gathered in the system can be used to analyze trends and improve clinical decision-making and financial operations.

“It’s not just tracking the wheelchair – it’s the richer set of information that you can derive online,” he added.

Based in Redwood City, Calif., AeroScout uses Wi-Fi-based active RFID, sensors, RTLS and other technologies and has established partnership with Cisco Systems, Philips Medical Systems and AT&T, among others. This week, the company announced the development of a Wi-Fi asset tracking solution with embedded ultrasound capabilities, as well as a contract with Providence Health & Services to provide a Wi-Fi solution at its Olympia, Wash. hospital.

According to Stephenson, RTLS systems are being adopted in healthcare settings twice as often as other verticals.

“Adoption of RTLS based solutions in hospitals has the potential to enhance clinical workflow, improve patient experience, help identify and minimize operational inefficiencies and deliver better asset management,” he said in a press release announcing Reva-4-Healthcare. “These benefits are expected to save  hospitals millions of dollars in capital and operational expenditures, apart from  significantly improving the quality and efficacy of patient care and safety.”