Mobile Heartbeat Expands Banyan Platform with Private 5G Support for Healthcare Communications
Mobile Heartbeat, a provider of clinical communication and collaboration solutions, has announced that its Banyan platform now supports private 5G networks, expanding the connectivity options available to healthcare organizations as hospitals and health systems modernize their communications infrastructure.
The development is designed to help healthcare organizations operate clinical communication applications across an increasingly diverse network environment. As hospitals explore alternatives and complements to traditional Wi-Fi, including private cellular networks, clinical applications need to remain reliable across different connectivity architectures. Mobile Heartbeat has enhanced Banyan to support private 5G and collaborated with healthcare technology partner Pixel Health to test the platform in a private 5G environment.
According to Mobile Heartbeat, the successful testing demonstrated Banyan’s ability to operate over private 5G infrastructure, giving healthcare organizations greater flexibility as they evaluate connectivity strategies for their facilities, clinical teams and operational requirements.
The expansion comes as hospitals continue investing in digital infrastructure to support mobile devices, connected clinical workflows and real-time communication between care teams. Reliable connectivity has become increasingly important as clinicians depend on smartphones, mobile applications and other connected technologies to exchange information and coordinate patient care.
Supporting Evolving Healthcare Connectivity
Healthcare environments present unique connectivity challenges. Hospitals can include patient rooms, operating suites, emergency departments, intensive care units, laboratories, imaging areas, administrative spaces and other facilities where reliable communication is essential.
Traditional Wi-Fi infrastructure has long supported mobile clinical applications, but health systems are increasingly considering additional connectivity models to address coverage, capacity, reliability and operational requirements. Private 5G networks are among the technologies being evaluated as organizations seek to strengthen wireless connectivity across complex healthcare environments.
Mobile Heartbeat’s decision to add private 5G support to Banyan is intended to allow health systems to choose connectivity infrastructure based on their individual needs rather than requiring them to adopt a specific network model.
Mike Iwanek, Vice President of Professional Services at Mobile Heartbeat, said healthcare organizations are evaluating private 5G as another option for strengthening connectivity throughout their facilities. He emphasized that the company’s objective is for Banyan to operate within the network strategies selected by customers rather than dictate which connectivity infrastructure they should use.
By supporting private 5G, Mobile Heartbeat aims to provide health systems with greater flexibility as they plan future communications infrastructure investments.
Private 5G and Clinical Communications
Private 5G networks can provide organizations with dedicated cellular connectivity within defined locations. For hospitals, this can potentially support a broad range of connected devices and applications requiring dependable wireless communication.
Clinical communication platforms are particularly dependent on network availability because care teams frequently use mobile devices to communicate with colleagues, receive alerts, coordinate patient care and access information while moving throughout a facility.
In this environment, the ability of a clinical communication platform to function across different network technologies can be an important consideration for healthcare IT teams.
Banyan’s expanded support for private 5G is designed to address this requirement. Rather than limiting the platform to a single connectivity approach, Mobile Heartbeat is positioning Banyan as a flexible clinical communication solution that can operate as healthcare organizations evolve their network infrastructure.
The company believes this flexibility can help health systems modernize their technology environments while preserving communication workflows that clinicians already rely on.
Collaboration With Pixel Health
To validate Banyan’s private 5G capabilities, Mobile Heartbeat worked with Pixel Health, a healthcare technology partner, to test the platform in a private cellular network environment.
The collaboration focused on evaluating Banyan’s performance when operating over private 5G infrastructure. Successful testing provided evidence that the platform could function reliably within this type of connectivity environment, according to the companies.
Karl Connolly, President of Technology Services at Pixel Health, said hospitals modernizing their network infrastructure need confidence that clinical communication tools will continue performing as connectivity models evolve.
He noted that Pixel Health’s testing with Mobile Heartbeat showed Banyan performing reliably over private 5G, providing healthcare organizations with a validated option as they evaluate the connectivity strategy that best fits their particular environment.
The collaboration also illustrates the growing importance of testing clinical applications alongside emerging network technologies. For healthcare organizations, adopting new infrastructure is not simply a matter of installing network equipment. Applications used by physicians, nurses and other care professionals must also be compatible with the underlying technology and deliver dependable performance.
Increasing Connectivity Requirements in Hospitals
The expansion of private 5G support comes at a time when hospitals are managing increasingly complex digital environments. Healthcare organizations are deploying more connected devices and mobile technologies to support clinical and operational workflows.
Mobile communication can allow care teams to remain connected while moving between departments and patient-care areas. However, the effectiveness of these applications depends heavily on the reliability and coverage of the underlying network.
Hospitals may also need to support different categories of connected equipment simultaneously. Smartphones, tablets, clinical devices, Internet of Medical Things technologies and other connected systems can place significant demands on wireless infrastructure.
As a result, healthcare IT departments are evaluating a range of technologies designed to strengthen connectivity. These include traditional Wi-Fi improvements, private cellular networks, neutral-host distributed antenna systems (DAS) and other infrastructure solutions.
Mobile Heartbeat’s support for private 5G gives healthcare organizations another option when designing the connectivity environment supporting their clinical communication systems.
Flexibility for Health Systems
One of the central objectives of the expanded Banyan capability is flexibility. Healthcare organizations differ significantly in their facilities, network infrastructure, clinical workflows and technology strategies.
Some health systems may continue relying primarily on Wi-Fi, while others may incorporate private 5G, neutral-host systems or combinations of multiple network technologies. By supporting additional connectivity models, Mobile Heartbeat aims to allow Banyan to fit into these different infrastructure strategies.
This approach can be particularly relevant for large health systems operating multiple hospitals and facilities, where network modernization may occur in stages rather than through a single infrastructure replacement project.
The ability to deploy clinical communication applications across evolving network environments can help organizations reduce the risk of technology changes disrupting established communication workflows.
For clinicians, the underlying network technology is generally less important than whether their communication tools function consistently when needed. Physicians and nurses need to be able to communicate with colleagues without having to understand or manage the technical details of the network supporting the application.
Modernizing Clinical Communication Infrastructure
The expansion also reflects a broader shift in healthcare toward more connected and mobile clinical environments. Communication increasingly takes place through digital platforms rather than relying exclusively on traditional pagers, fixed-line telephones or other legacy systems.
Modern clinical communication platforms can bring different communication functions together, helping care teams exchange information and coordinate activities through mobile devices and other digital tools.
As these systems become more central to healthcare operations, infrastructure reliability becomes increasingly important. A communication application must be able to operate in the environments where clinicians work, including areas with complex physical layouts and demanding connectivity requirements.
Mobile Heartbeat’s investment in private 5G support is intended to ensure that Banyan can evolve alongside these infrastructure changes.
The company views the development as part of its broader commitment to flexible and resilient clinical communication technology. By enabling the platform to operate across additional connectivity models, Mobile Heartbeat is seeking to help healthcare organizations modernize their infrastructure without requiring them to abandon established communication workflows.
Implications for Healthcare IT Teams
For healthcare IT leaders, the ability to evaluate private 5G without compromising existing clinical applications can be an important consideration when planning network modernization.
Private cellular networks may be evaluated for a variety of reasons, including coverage, capacity, device management and connectivity requirements. However, any new infrastructure must work effectively with the applications used throughout the healthcare environment.
The testing conducted by Mobile Heartbeat and Pixel Health provides an example of how clinical technology vendors and healthcare technology partners can work together to validate application performance on emerging infrastructure.
By demonstrating Banyan’s ability to operate over private 5G, Mobile Heartbeat is giving health systems an additional option when considering how to structure their wireless connectivity environments.
The company does not position private 5G as a replacement for every existing network technology. Instead, the expanded support is intended to allow customers to determine which connectivity strategy is most appropriate for their facilities and care teams.
As healthcare organizations continue their digital transformation efforts, the relationship between clinical applications and underlying network infrastructure will become increasingly important. Hospitals need communication systems capable of adapting as connectivity technologies change, particularly as mobile devices and connected clinical applications become more deeply integrated into everyday workflows.
Mobile Heartbeat’s addition of private 5G support to Banyan represents a step toward addressing this requirement. Through its collaboration with Pixel Health and successful testing in a private cellular environment, the company has demonstrated the platform’s ability to function within an emerging connectivity model.
The development gives health systems greater flexibility as they evaluate private 5G, neutral-host distributed antenna systems and other approaches to strengthening connectivity across complex healthcare facilities.
Ultimately, Mobile Heartbeat’s expanded Banyan capabilities are aimed at ensuring that infrastructure modernization does not come at the expense of clinical communication. By supporting multiple connectivity strategies, the company is seeking to help healthcare organizations adopt new technologies while maintaining the communication workflows that physicians, nurses and other care teams depend on every day.
The move highlights a broader trend in healthcare technology: as hospitals become increasingly connected, clinical communication platforms must evolve alongside the networks that support them. Mobile Heartbeat’s private 5G capability positions Banyan to participate in that evolution while giving healthcare organizations greater choice in how they build and modernize their communications infrastructure.
About Mobile Heartbeat
Mobile Heartbeat leads enterprise clinical communication with the largest deployments, most patents, and unmatched customer success. Trusted by leading health systems nationwide including HCA Healthcare and Corewell Health East, Mobile Heartbeat powers over 300,000 users and continues to reinvent enterprise mobility for healthcare.
About Pixel Health
Pixel Health enables healthcare organizations to improve clinician, patient and staff experiences by making technology and clinical systems work better together. As experts in healthcare technology and how to ’succeed with change’, we take a holistic, customized approach to consulting, strategy, and implementation services. Our capabilities extend from large-scale clinical mobility and telecom implementations to contact centers, digital front doors, and change management.
At Pixel Health, visionaries, consultants, and frontline team members work together to bring simplicity and efficiency to clinical care teams, patient access, IT and connected care objectives. As a result, we create high-value solutions that produce long-term outcomes and revenue improvements.