Need help finding a suitable GPS device locator...

Aamry

Aamry

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I work for a Durable Medical Equipment providing company, so we deliver rental machines to patients homes, and we also pickup the machines when the rental period is over.

We recently had a delivery rep get fired, so we are trying to both handle pickups for all the machines she delivered as well as get the machines she had on hand back. As a result, my boss has given me the job of finding a suitable GPS tracker device that we can place in each machine, so that we can find where they are if this happens in the future.

Looking around on Amazon, etc, I'm running into a couple issues.
1: Battery Life. The SIM-card GPS trackers only appear to last about a day. Patients have these machines for up to 32 days, longer if it's workcomp. I've found one, "Scout", that is a paid service based that can be hardwired (cars, motorcycles) but not sure how we'd do that to the machines, as they don't have an integral battery, you plug them into the wall, so if it were unplugged for a length of time the locator would die.

2: "Tile" style trackers which have an internal non-removeable battery with up to 1 year life, which is good, but work via bluetooth, so short range, and also "ring" to help you find them. This would be good if we were trying to prove the machine was on-site, but wouldn't help us track them down if they were moved.

Does anyone know of any kind of device, preferably smaller than 3"x3", that we can put into around 500 machines, and be able to track, without having to worry about recharging them daily, or hardwiring them into an already somewhat touchy machine?

Thanks
 
A

a_skeleton_03

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Aamry said:
I work for a Durable Medical Equipment providing company, so we deliver rental machines to patients homes, and we also pickup the machines when the rental period is over.

We recently had a delivery rep get fired, so we are trying to both handle pickups for all the machines she delivered as well as get the machines she had on hand back. As a result, my boss has given me the job of finding a suitable GPS tracker device that we can place in each machine, so that we can find where they are if this happens in the future.

Looking around on Amazon, etc, I'm running into a couple issues.
1: Battery Life. The SIM-card GPS trackers only appear to last about a day. Patients have these machines for up to 32 days, longer if it's workcomp. I've found one, "Scout", that is a paid service based that can be hardwired (cars, motorcycles) but not sure how we'd do that to the machines, as they don't have an integral battery, you plug them into the wall, so if it were unplugged for a length of time the locator would die.

2: "Tile" style trackers which have an internal non-removeable battery with up to 1 year life, which is good, but work via bluetooth, so short range, and also "ring" to help you find them. This would be good if we were trying to prove the machine was on-site, but wouldn't help us track them down if they were moved.

Does anyone know of any kind of device, preferably smaller than 3"x3", that we can put into around 500 machines, and be able to track, without having to worry about recharging them daily, or hardwiring them into an already somewhat touchy machine?

Thanks
Click to expand...
You are absolutely going to have to hardwire them in and it is also probably illegal to do that if you are caught.
 
Utnayan

Utnayan

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Yeah that is a major HIPAA compliance issue. You would need to get clearance from every device manufacturer you put them on, would also have to notify the customer, and also make sure the devices will be HIPAA compliant which they won’t be.

And if you are busted, (company) you are fucked.
 
Aamry

Aamry

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We own the devices, and are the DME rental company. But this would be a HIPAA violation? That's a topic I'll have to bring up with my boss, as obviously she's the one that has me looking into it.
 
Borzak

Borzak

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I'd look into legal issues which might vary depending on where you are. I know someone who owns a rental company for industrial type stuff (not medical) and I asked one time how often stuff gets stole and he commented they couldn't put a device on stuff depending on where it was expected to be stored.
 
Bandwagon

Bandwagon

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EVERYTHING is a hipaa violation nowadays. If you mention a patient's age in a lobby, you have a 50% chance that a bored "hospitalist" is going to launch herself straight up your ass, and then call the fire chief if you don't commit suicide out of shame right in front of her.



...or so I hear....
 
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Palum

Palum

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Aamry said:
I work for a Durable Medical Equipment providing company, so we deliver rental machines to patients homes, and we also pickup the machines when the rental period is over.

We recently had a delivery rep get fired, so we are trying to both handle pickups for all the machines she delivered as well as get the machines she had on hand back. As a result, my boss has given me the job of finding a suitable GPS tracker device that we can place in each machine, so that we can find where they are if this happens in the future.

Looking around on Amazon, etc, I'm running into a couple issues.
1: Battery Life. The SIM-card GPS trackers only appear to last about a day. Patients have these machines for up to 32 days, longer if it's workcomp. I've found one, "Scout", that is a paid service based that can be hardwired (cars, motorcycles) but not sure how we'd do that to the machines, as they don't have an integral battery, you plug them into the wall, so if it were unplugged for a length of time the locator would die.

2: "Tile" style trackers which have an internal non-removeable battery with up to 1 year life, which is good, but work via bluetooth, so short range, and also "ring" to help you find them. This would be good if we were trying to prove the machine was on-site, but wouldn't help us track them down if they were moved.

Does anyone know of any kind of device, preferably smaller than 3"x3", that we can put into around 500 machines, and be able to track, without having to worry about recharging them daily, or hardwiring them into an already somewhat touchy machine?

Thanks
Click to expand...

GPS tracker rofl that shit ain't two way

Let me put it this way, commercial security systems nowadays frequently have a 3G radio primary because wireless is a lot easier. A fairly large (8ish? lb) lead acid battery serves as a backup and can last maybe 18-72 hours depending on signal strength and unit type, etc.
 
Aamry

Aamry

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Kithani said:
What machines are these, out of curiosity? Wound vacs? Oxygen?
Click to expand...

Cold compression machines, and continuous passive motion machines.

Palum said:
GPS tracker rofl that shit ain't two way

Let me put it this way, commercial security systems nowadays frequently have a 3G radio primary because wireless is a lot easier. A fairly large (8ish? lb) lead acid battery serves as a backup and can last maybe 18-72 hours depending on signal strength and unit type, etc.
Click to expand...

Considering the machines are small, and only weigh about 20lbs each, doubling their weight with a battery would be impossible lol.

My boss is looking into the HIPAA thing, probably a dead end. Thanks for all your help.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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HIPAA or not, you're not going to get something that lasts a long time AND a large range. Radios take power to transmit very far. I think the tile gizmos will be the best you can do unless you could rig something to charge the battery while the machine is plugged in. Maybe they all do this but I know the Trackr device will give you a location if it gets in Bluetooth range of any phone with the Trackr app, not just your phone. They have replaceable coin cell batteries that are supposed to last a year.
 
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