SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — LodgeNet Healthcare, a leading provider of integrated patient communication solutions, announced that its environmental control project with Siemens Industry Inc.’s Building Technologies Division has gone live at Maple Grove Hospital in Maple Grove, Minn. In addition to having access to education and engagement content, relaxation videos, and hospital information, patients are now able to manage their own comfort by controlling the temperature of their room using the pillow speaker and the television as an interface and display.

“We are pleased to have worked with Siemens on the project at Maple Grove, and we continue to partner with our customers to identify ways of utilizing our system to improve the patient experience,” said Gary Kolbeck, president of LodgeNet Healthcare. “Forward thinking facilities like Maple Grove are always looking for ways to improve the patient experience and give patients more control of their environment during their stay. This project does both, and the interface allows for blind and light controls in conjunction with Siemens’ Building Automation System.”

Saving nurses’ time so they can focus on increased patient interaction is an important aspect to improving desired outcomes. As hospitals focus more attention on patient impacted outcomes and patient/family engagement, partnering with health IT integrators like LodgeNet Healthcare enable them to leverage technology to create the optimum mix of nursing interaction and automation to reduce costs and improve outcomes.

“We are always looking for ways to help improve the comfort and experience of our patients. A comfortable and less stressed patient is more likely to heal quickly,” said Craig Wolgemuth, senior project manager with Maple Grove Hospital. “LodgeNet Healthcare was able to complete the integration with our Siemens system, and helped provide remote testing that reduced our costs. As suspected, the ability to control the room temperature has been well received by our patients, with over 330 patient initiated adjustments made in the first few weeks. We look forward to partnering with LodgeNet Healthcare on future integrations to better execute on our patient/family engagement strategies.”

Wolgemuth added, “Patients today need to be more involved in their care and need to play an active role as part of the care team. Options like education when it’s convenient for them and having control over their environment make them feel empowered and save staff from having to respond to a request like raising or lowering the temperature.”

“Having direct patient control of the room temperature through the interface with LodgeNet increases the value of our Siemens’ Building Automation System,” said Ken McQuillen, healthcare marketing manager at Siemens Industry Inc. “We have built the technical ties to our system to allow these types of interfaces, and LodgeNet Healthcare embraced the solution from the patients’ perspective in an easy-to-use and intuitive fashion which has been working well. We are excited to work with LodgeNet on future projects. By working together, we increase the value of our combined solutions for a better patient experience.”

For more information about Siemens’ Building Technologies Division, visit www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies. For more information about LodgeNet Healthcare, visit www.lodgenethealthcare.com.

Publication date: 5/6/2013