Hospitals are under enormous financial pressure, often with non-profit status and operating at a low margin. The costs associated with providing care are rising and at the same time, there is increased pressure to compete in the healthcare market place now that consumers have more choice and information. There are now a number of new "state-of-the-art" facilities that provide cutting edge technology.

Higher quality is not just a convenience in healthcare. It's a matter of significant financial loss for the hospital. Money is lost every day due to billing errors and/or paperwork inefficiencies. Tools and technology that can reduce these losses must be explored via a cost benefit business case. For example, PDAs and other wireless devices, supported by a wireless network, can reduce medical errors by replacing bad handwriting and paper records with immediate electronic information capture and processing.

Business needs and European Union requirements are driving the need for higher and higher quality security and privacy of medical information. And while the burden to comply with this day-to-day falls on the medical and admin staff, it is the business management that must deal with the costs of compliance (technology and training) and the costs of non-compliance (fees, jail time).

Rapid access to business information enables business operations staff to improve decision-making, and the quicker they can make sound judgement calls based on quantified, accurate information the more proactive they can be. Time saved translates into operational efficiency gains that can deliver balance sheet benefits.

High performance IT infrastructure from 3Com provides investment protection and low total cost of ownership by being simple to deploy, competitively priced, flexible enough to grow / re-deploy and standards based to ensure interoperability.