Download PDF
Major Healthcare Provider Successfully Rolls Out Cloud-based EMR with NETSCOUT
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
The healthcare organization was tasked with replacing its legacy applications and implementing a new cloud-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) service. This presented several challenges to the IT team. A new infrastructure was required to delineate performance responsibilities between the healthcare organization and the cloud vendor. Visibility was essential to determine who would be responsible for problems and how to pinpoint and resolve them quickly. The plan was to incorporate service assurance visibility as an integral part of the overall deployment of the infrastructure and cloud-based EMR service from the very start of the project. Pre-deployment application testing was a step in the project plan to ensure when the time came for go-live, the transition would be flawless.
About The Customer
The customer is one of the largest U.S. non-profit healthcare organizations. Based in the Midwest, the organization serves the needs of urban, suburban, and rural communities. It includes 15 hospitals and multiple community health locations. The services provided by the organization include inpatient and outpatient care, primary care, community health and wellness, home health, community mental health, rehab, long-term care, and hospice. The organization generates revenues in excess of $4 billion a year. With nearly 4,000 physicians, the healthcare organization supports 600,000 patients a year with hospital admissions, home health visits, and emergency department visits.
The Solution
To ensure high-quality performance of the healthcare organization’s new cloud-based EMR application, IT turned to NETSCOUT®. The nGeniusONE Service Assurance platform with Adaptive Service Intelligence™ (ASI) technology along with InfiniStreamNG appliances were selected. In order to support the bandwidth intensive imaging services the healthcare provider depends on, they were implementing a 40GB ACI backbone in the new hub infrastructure. Critical to the success of this implementation was the selection of an InfiniStreamNG 9800 appliance that would monitor the new 40GB backbone. In addition, nGenius 3900 Packet Flow Switches that also supports the 40GB network was selected for packet distribution to the InfiniStreamNG appliances and other tools as necessary. A Remote Site Engineer (RSE) was tasked with providing expert support throughout the implementation process.
Operational Impact
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Hospital Inventory Management
The hospital supply chain team is responsible for ensuring that the right medical supplies are readily available to clinicians when and where needed, and to do so in the most efficient manner possible. However, many of the systems and processes in use at the cancer center for supply chain management were not best suited to support these goals. Barcoding technology, a commonly used method for inventory management of medical supplies, is labor intensive, time consuming, does not provide real-time visibility into inventory levels and can be prone to error. Consequently, the lack of accurate and real-time visibility into inventory levels across multiple supply rooms in multiple hospital facilities creates additional inefficiency in the system causing over-ordering, hoarding, and wasted supplies. Other sources of waste and cost were also identified as candidates for improvement. Existing systems and processes did not provide adequate security for high-cost inventory within the hospital, which was another driver of cost. A lack of visibility into expiration dates for supplies resulted in supplies being wasted due to past expiry dates. Storage of supplies was also a key consideration given the location of the cancer center’s facilities in a dense urban setting, where space is always at a premium. In order to address the challenges outlined above, the hospital sought a solution that would provide real-time inventory information with high levels of accuracy, reduce the level of manual effort required and enable data driven decision making to ensure that the right supplies were readily available to clinicians in the right location at the right time.
Case Study
Gas Pipeline Monitoring System for Hospitals
This system integrator focuses on providing centralized gas pipeline monitoring systems for hospitals. The service they provide makes it possible for hospitals to reduce both maintenance and labor costs. Since hospitals may not have an existing network suitable for this type of system, GPRS communication provides an easy and ready-to-use solution for remote, distributed monitoring systems System Requirements - GPRS communication - Seamless connection with SCADA software - Simple, front-end control capability - Expandable I/O channels - Combine AI, DI, and DO channels
Case Study
Driving Digital Transformations for Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices
Diagnostic devices play a vital role in helping to improve healthcare delivery. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s medical decisions are made with support from in vitrodiagnostics (IVD) solutions, such as those provided by Roche Diagnostics, an industry leader. As the demand for medical diagnostic services grows rapidly in hospitals and clinics across China, so does the market for IVD solutions. In addition, the typically high cost of these diagnostic devices means that comprehensive post-sales services are needed. Wanteed to improve three portions of thr IVD:1. Remotely monitor and manage IVD devices as fixed assets.2. Optimizing device availability with predictive maintenance.3. Recommending the best IVD solution for a customer’s needs.
Case Study
HaemoCloud Global Blood Management System
1) Deliver a connected digital product system to protect and increase the differentiated value of Haemonetics blood and plasma solutions. 2) Improve patient outcomes by increasing the efficiency of blood supply flows. 3) Navigate and satisfy a complex web of global regulatory compliance requirements. 4) Reduce costly and labor-intensive maintenance procedures.
Case Study
Harnessing real-time data to give a holistic picture of patient health
Every day, vast quantities of data are collected about patients as they pass through health service organizations—from operational data such as treatment history and medications to physiological data captured by medical devices. The insights hidden within this treasure trove of data can be used to support more personalized treatments, more accurate diagnosis and more advanced preparative care. But since the information is generated faster than most organizations can consume it, unlocking the power of this big data can be a struggle. This type of predictive approach not only improves patient care—it also helps to reduce costs, because in the healthcare industry, prevention is almost always more cost-effective than treatment. However, collecting, analyzing and presenting these data-streams in a way that clinicians can easily understand can pose a significant technical challenge.