KLAS Performance Ratings Begin New Era with Infrastructure Market Research

OREM, UT, February 21, 2011 (Press-News.org) KLAS today announced its new infrastructure market research category that will provide KLAS performance ratings for infrastructure vendors. Research in the new category will begin with five market segments: communications, storage environment, computing infrastructure, nurse call and networks. KLAS began conducting research for the communications market segment in October 2010. The first infrastructure report, "Internal Wireless Voice Communication Systems: Improving Patient Care and Satisfaction by Staying Connected," is being released today during HIMSS. The report specifies which vendors provide the most reliable wireless VoIP solutions. The vendors included in the study are Ascom, Avaya, Cisco, Polycom and Voicera.

Research for the wireless report was gathered from more than 110 provider organizations and focuses on both strengths and weaknesses of the vendors. "Some of the findings show that executives are adopting VoIP technology cautiously with many questioning the best way to incorporate wireless technology at their facility," said Jeremy Goff, author of the report. "The study explores to what degree providers are configuring their wireless VoIP systems and how wireless technology is being used to improve patient care and better meet clinician expectations."

Several key findings in the report indicate that as technology quickly advances and familiarity with wireless VoIP increases, providers are looking to do much more than just voice communications with their mobile VoIP phones. Additional functionalities being explored include data and graphics transfers, alerts, monitoring and seamless interfaces to multiple clinical devices and applications. It was also found that device integration leads to improved care. Providers with at least one integration point to their wireless VoIP device were 52 percent more likely to report major or moderate improvement in patient care.

Mike Smith, General Manager of Infrastructure Research said, "KLAS will target data collection in communications, storage environment and nurse call during the first two quarters of 2011. As we work with providers and collect research, we expect that additional research needs will be identified."

The new report, "Internal Wireless Voice Communication Systems: Improving Patient Care and Satisfaction by Staying Connected" is available for purchase at www.KLASresearch.com/reports.

KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare vendors. KLAS' mission is to improve delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors, and vendors. Working together with executives from over 4500 hospitals and over 2500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends, and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry. KLAS measures performance of software, professional services, and medical equipment vendors. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email marketing@KLASresearch.com, or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative.