Cox Business, the B2B technology division of cable provider Cox Communications, is aiming to make more inroads in healthcare. They are doubling down on front-of-the-house technologies that impact clinical care vs back-end infrastructure. They are smartly growing their healthcare capabilities which were on full display at #HIMSS21
Non-traditional Vendors
Every year at the HIMSS conference, I like to look for companies that I consider non-traditional healthcare vendors. I scan the exhibit hall map to look for brand-name companies. In the past, I have noted companies like: Blackberry, AT&T, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
This year, Cox Business invested to make themselves prominent at #HIMSS21. They sponsored numerous meet-and-greets, their logo is on the napkins, and their ads are in the elevators. They made it easy for me to notice them.
From back to front
“Cox has been working with healthcare organizations for decades,” explained George Valentine, Executive Director of New Growth & Development at Cox Business. “We have helped many with their networking, infrastructure and cloud needs.”
Their strategy shifted in 2015 with the acquisition of Trapollo, a connected healthcare solution provider focused on improving patient care through program design, consulting, integrated clinical applications, and support.
“This acquisition really helped to move us up the stack in healthcare,” continued Valentine. “We really thought about how we could make communications, which is the core of our business, more valuable to our healthcare customers. Adding Trapollo was in alignment with that strategy and brought us from just an player in the back-end, operational area of healthcare to the front-of-the-house.”
Disrupting RTLS
At HIMSS21 Cox Business was highlighting their latest solution offering, Prosight – a turnkey RTLS solution that includes the tracking devices, readers and software. Prosight provides asset tracking, personnel safety, messaging and other standard features you’d expect to see in a solution of this type.
What makes the solution unique is Cox’s focus on the hardware. They are aiming to disrupt RTLS in healthcare by driving down the cost of the devices.
“Right now, the cost of outfitting a healthcare organization with RTLS is prohibitive,” said Valentine. “We want to eliminate that barrier by making our hardware as affordable as possible.”
Valentine estimates that the cost of their badge buttons, trackers and readers are 50-75% less than competitors. That can add up to significant savings for a healthcare organization.
Cox is positioned well for this type of disruption given its experience in the consumer world and its work with Smart-Cities and Smart-Agriculture.
It will be interesting to track the progress of Cox Business as it continues to expand its offerings and as it works with more and more healthcare organizations.
