CenTrak

Company

CenTrak was founded in 2003 by Ari Naim (President and CEO), Gideon Naim (CFO), and Israel Amir (CTO).

The company initially "developed a way to use radio frequency to measure distance and used it to make security devices that people could attach to such things as briefcases or their children. If a device exceeded a certain distance from its owner," it would make an audible alert. The devices sold successfully at Staples, but the founders "realized that their range-estimation technology could be used to track assets indoors and decided to develop a system that took advantage of that capability."

The company chose to focus on healthcare and sought to overcome the problems of cost, complexity, accuracy and versatility in existing asset-tracking and workflow systems employed in medical settings. In mid-2007, CenTrak successfully deployed their own system at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), tracking hundreds of patients and staff as well as equipment moving through rooms for clinical care. In early 2008, CenTrak released its system commercially, and by summer 2009, the company's systems were deployed in more than 35 medical facilities. As of February 2014, CenTrak's RTLS technology is deployed in over 450 healthcare facilities, including customers such as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Technology and applications

CenTrak's RTLS system uses its Second Generation Infrared Gen2IR and active radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. CenTrak's Gen2IR emitting monitors installed in medical facility rooms collect data from transmissions of RFID badges worn by patients and employees, as well as from tags assigned to facility assets, such as mobile medical devices. The objective of the system is to more efficiently manage patients, more effectively utilize staff, and ensure that medical assets are more easily located and employed.

The CenTrak system is also utilized for tracking hand hygiene compliance in order to reduce health care-associated infections. When a staff member uses a hand-washing station, CenTrak's system logs the action and links it to the individual's unique identifier connected to their badge. If that employee approaches a patient without first sanitizing their hands, that incident is also recorded, which allows management to address any lapses in compliance. A CenTrak tag, attached to a refrigerator or freezer, can also monitor the temperature of medical supplies. The CenTrak system will issue an alert if the temperature fluctuates beyond the established safe threshold.

Another application of CenTrak's technology is for safety and security. The CenTrak Guardian platform is used for asset security, elopement prevention and infant protection.

Reception

In October 2014, global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan selected CenTrak as the recipient of the 2014 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Line Strategy Leadership. Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Swathi Allada said, "CenTrak's Clinical-Grade RTLS does not suffer from traditional RFID challenges, such as RF interference with physical obstacles, infrared and ultrasound line-of-sight limitations, or enterprise-wide wiring requirements. Overall, scalability and ease of configuration (over the air) makes the solution reliable, future-proofed, affordable and suitable to support many clinical use cases."

In 2013, CenTrak was ranked number 129 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, "a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America." From 2008 to 2012, CenTrak's revenue growth was 1,042 percent. In 2014 and 2015, CenTrak was ranked on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for the second and third consecutive year.

In 2017, CenTrak was named Category Leader for Real-Time Location Systems in the “2017 Best in KLAS: Software and Services” report. The Best in KLAS report celebrates and recognizes vendors who have made significant strides to improve healthcare while addressing changes like payment reform and the shift to population health. As the Category Leader, CenTrak received the highest performance score of all ranked RTLS vendors.