TAGCarts, Inc. was recently awarded a Utility Patent from the United States Patent & Trademark Office, for their “Wall Anchor for Cart with Recharging.”

Patent No.: 10,927,873 – TAGCarts, Inc.

TAGCarts®’ intellectual property development is a key focus of it’s growth strategy. On February 23, 2021 the USPTO awarded the Delaware corporation’s first utility patent relating to medical and workstation carts. You can readily view on Google Patents here, “Wall Anchor for Cart with Recharging.”

Background of Invention:

In TAGCarts’ mission to solve for nursing with evolved medical cart and workstation solutions, an undeniable pain point emerged as omnipresent.

Problem: Clinically and professionally trained Nurses monitoring, managing, and maintaining mobile medical cart power systems. Initially chords, plugs and outlets plagued hospital and healthcare nursing. In order to keep medical carts and workstations powered, nurses are required to monitor power levels, manage chords, outlets and plugs, and maintain populations of powered carts for use while others may be charging. A slight improvement came with “Swappable” batteries. Now, with banks of batteries charging at centralized stations in a department, nurses were no longer having to plug, unplug and manage chords, outlets and plugs. However, they still require monitoring, managing and maintaining these floating battery cartridges, into the carts, into the chargers, and round and round. This added unnecessary nurse ambulation, and traded one physical and cognitive task for another. While solving for chords and plugs, and to some extent nurses bending up and down with chords, now they are carrying loaf of bread sized batteries to and fro. Additionally, now the PAR levels of batteries available, must be maintained, purchased, and refreshed to require the power modules for the carts. Unfortunately a huge majority of carts and workstations still use the less expensive chord / plug / outlet versions, and the newer “Swappable Batteries” still fall short of actually solving for eliminating this non patient centered task from nursing workflow.

Solution: The TAGCarts’ Patented design is an ecosystem whereby omnipresent and existing items in the nurses’ environment of care, are smart, charging carts at all times as needed. Thus completely eliminating the physical, mental, and cognitive task nurses currently have with mobile power systems – and more importantly freeing them up to do more dignified, important, and patient outcome centered tasks.

The winners of the concept design?: Nurses, Patients, Staff, and hospitals.

Currently named the “Power-Anchor Smart Rail™”, the product has successfully completed the “Proof of Concept” phase and entered the “Prototype” phase. The company’s evidence-based design methodology directs toward usability studies and select hospital pilots next. In addition to smart charging, the Power-Anchor Smart Rail also embodies features for seismically anchoring, cart-top / workstation surface wireless charging (handhelds, laptops, & tablets), general “Docking” (physical or virtual), and data transmission for medical carts and workstations.

TAGCarts® has benefited from a plethora of nursing professionals who continue to encourage, support, and participate in their research and development of medical cart solutions for healthcare. Together – they are committed to medical cart design and manufacturing that enables and elevates the nursing community, rather than add remedial tasks with no patient benefit.

About TAGCarts, Inc.

TAGCarts® is a Veteran Owned, California Founder Institute company bringing the medical cart industry into the 21st century with conscientious design and material manufacturing for nurses in healthcare. Based in Sacramento, TAGCarts® mission driven values’ of social responsibility and sustainability in healthcare was honored as Comstock’s Magazine’s “Startup of the Month” and founded by CEO Taggart F. Neal in 2019.

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TAGCarts offers disposable medical equipment

Trevor Skeen Sep 23, 2020

Before the pandemic reshaped businesses around the world, Taggart Neal and John Krueger planned to market their hospital-durable medical equipment. However, the onset of COVID-19 quickly changed those intentions, and the pair unveiled a single-use, biodegradable medical cart stocked with personal protective equipment (PPE) — the HEROCart. 

Neal and Krueger donated 250 HEROCarts to the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS), along with an additional 150 units to the Navajo Nation. These supplies are commonly used at alternative care sites, which the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services documented as a “broad term for any building or structure that is temporarily converted or newly erected for health care use.” 

The reservation spans over certain parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, and local hospitals were filled with COVID-19 patients in May. When alternative care sites were established to treat more people, Neal said 500 beds were sometimes limited to just two medical carts. However, the donated HEROCarts were applied to triage testing rooms, swing-bed areas, outpatient clinics, school nursing facilities and a number of other services, which helped to improve these operations.

Neal is the CEO of TAGCarts, a company he launched in February 2019 with Krueger, an economic development specialist who serves as an advisory board member. The designs, prototypes and products are from Sacramento, California, although both business people received degrees from NAU — Neal from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Krueger from the W.A. Franke College of Business. While adjusting their plans from hospital-durable medical equipment to temporary carts was a big change, Neal said it was an easy decision. 

“It may sound cliche, but it wasn’t really a question,” Neal said. “The world was in crisis, and everyone from the governor of California to the president of the United States was asking health care companies to innovate and help.” 

Meanwhile, Krueger described hospitals as environments of care that are designed to be permanent and planned. The temporary nature of alternative care sites, however, can lead to challenges in regularizing patients’ treatment, but HEROCarts may provide an answer.

“Each of those environments has their own specific types of carts,” Krueger said. “Without them, the nurses and the doctors — all the health care providers — have a totally different flow of care. How can we give them [alternative care sites] some of the standardized processes in a manner that’s conducive to the pandemic or to a disaster?”

According to the company’s website, each HEROCart contains a lid, upper tray, three drawers and four swivel casters. Inside the carts, health care professionals can find five N95 masks and 15 pairs of medium, large and extra large gloves. For anyone considering donations, the carts are bundled at $250 each.

An email from Kellie DeMarco Communications, a public relations and media company also based in Sacramento, stated that TAGCarts is unable to share the internal and working costs of its services. However, the expenditures were described as “dynamic and proprietary,” which means that cost, scale and pricing models are subject to additional changes. 

“While an innovative and patent-pending product, the competitive marketplace we participate in prevents us from sharing internal operational costs including manufacturing,” the email stated. “Production is a mere fraction of a traditional medical cart equivalent typically $2-$5k/each.” 

All 150 HEROCarts donated to the Navajo Nation were shipped to Chinle, Arizona, and different areas received distributions thereafter. Neal said the single-use medical carts were used at Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, Arizona, along with another facility south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Upon receiving its contribution of 250 HEROCarts, AZDHS shared the equipment with a number of counties and tribal lands around the state: Apache, Cocopah, Gila, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, San Carlos and Yavapai among them. Neal also discussed his plans to travel back to Arizona from Sacramento to conduct in-service trainings at various medical facilities applying the company’s product. By carefully working with frontline nurses, doctors and other medical staff, Neal said he can learn more about developing his ideas.

In partnership with PRIDE industries, HEROCarts are assembled by veterans and people with disabilities. While addressing this business model, Neal said “corporate social responsibility” is at the center of TAGCarts’ work, along with the sustainability of its products. 

Neal, Krueger and the other employees at TAGCarts are considering new applications for their single-use medical equipment, but they also want to stay devoted to current investors and business partners. In Yemen specifically, Neal said the 1.3 million people fighting through population displacement could benefit from portable PPE. 

“Additionally, while we move to a ‘for purchase’ revenue model — away from the hundreds we’ve donated — part of our model is to continue to identify and serve communities and populations who may not be readily available to purchase,” the email stated. “If you want a HEROCart, we’re looking for like-minded, forward-thinking healthcare systems to partner with us!”

Both business people attended NAU at the same time, although Neal studied criminal justice and Krueger economics. Additionally, they each worked at restaurants in west Flagstaff — Chili’s and Subway to be specific — but never met each other while working toward undergraduate degrees. They shared their passion for NAU and the greater Flagstaff community. 

“We both have a deep love for Northern Arizona University, Lumberjacks in general and Coconino County and Flagstaff,” Neal said. “John [Krueger] and I are testaments to that.”

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Veterans embody the qualities of successful entrepreneurs: leadership, dedication, resilience, and the ability to pivot during uncertain times. Taggart Neal, a United States Navy Veteran, recently rose to meet the current challenges and needs of medical professionals around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taggart Neal first reached out to his local Veterans Business Outreach Center in 2009, when he began receiving complimentary business consulting and training services. American River Medical was then founded, a company servicing healthcare clients in medical cart and storage solutions.
Taggart received the VBOC 2017 Small Business Champion of the Year…

…To read how TAGCarts™ pivoted to keep nurse healthcareheroes safe and the HEROCart project – Please see complete PDF link below for entire PSA (Public Service Announcement)

PSA – Veteran Owned Business TAGCarts™ Pivots to Respond to COVID-19 PDF

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