For simplicity, only a single patient monitoring system was described. However, it is contemplated that multiple patient monitoring systems are employed. In such instances, the MBAN systems 52 of the medical institution 50 can be assigned to the available patient monitoring systems using any scheme designed to distribute the MBAN systems 52 across the patient monitoring systems. For example, each of the patient monitoring systems can be assigned a service zone of the medical institution 50, and each of the MBAN systems 52 can be assigned to the patient monitoring system corresponding to the service zone within which the MBAN system 52.

An MBAN channel management module 114 receives data describing frequencies available to the medical institution 50 from, for example, a user input device 116 or an external system. For example, where the MBAN spectrum is employed (i.e., the 2360-2400 MHz spectrum), the MBAN channel management module 114 can receive control messages from the MBAN coordinator 12 (FIG. 2) that define the frequencies in the MBAN spectrum that are authorized for MBAN operation. Based on the received data, the MBAN channel management module 114 identifies a set of MBAN channels that are located within the available frequencies for each type of MBAN (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4j or IEEE 802.15.6). Using the identified channels, the MBAN channel management module 114 implements an MBAN channel management scheme to provide prioritized QoS support to the MBAN systems 52 based on patient acuity level while maintaining usage efficiency of the spectrum used by the MBAN systems 52.