Download PDF
Torrance Memorial Medical Center Case Study
Technology Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Cloud Security
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- Cybersecurity Services
The Challenge
Torrance Memorial Medical Center (Torrance Memorial) has been growing rapidly over the last five years, acquiring new business entities and expanding its physician network. This rapid growth resulted in network sprawl and a rapidly growing workforce. Both new and old employees at Torrance Memorial were using more and more cloud computing services. As a healthcare organization, Torrance Memorial is a highly regulated entity due to privacy and medical records concerns. Todd Felker, Torrance Memorial’s technical services manager, wanted to know exactly which services employees were using to ensure he could maintain high security and privacy standards. Felker also needed this information to put in place a cloud services security policy that was flexible enough to allow employees to use the tools they needed but granular enough to maintain rock-solid security and resource controls. He also had no easy way to rate the risk of the different cloud services. With an IT security staff of only one person, Felker did not have sufficient resources to perform regular diligence on the risks posed by cloud services.
About The Customer
Torrance Memorial Medical Center is a healthcare organization based in Torrance, California. Over the past five years, the organization has grown rapidly, acquiring new business entities and expanding its physician network. This rapid growth has resulted in network sprawl and a rapidly growing workforce. The organization is highly regulated due to privacy and medical records concerns. The organization's technical services manager, Todd Felker, is tasked with maintaining high security and privacy standards, which includes knowing exactly which cloud services employees are using. However, with an IT security staff of only one person, Felker does not have sufficient resources to perform regular diligence on the risks posed by cloud services.
The Solution
Torrance Memorial deployed Skyhigh Discover and Analyze to identify cloud services, assess risk, and enforce smarter policies. The organization uploaded log files into the Skyhigh Networks Cloud Access Security Manager, a cloud-based discovery, analysis, and security service. Within minutes, Felker had received a discovery report from Skyhigh identifying every cloud service used by Torrance Memorial employees. Skyhigh’s CloudTrust™ Rating immediately assigned to each discovered service an objective risk rating based on a matrix of over 50 attributes of cloud enterprise readiness. Using Skyhigh Networks, Felker was able to discover all cloud services in use by Torrance Memorial employees, continuously monitor for new services, quickly rate the risk associated with each discovered cloud service, based on industry best-practice measures, and be notified of change in risk. He was also able to effectively manage cloud security risks from a single dashboard managed by a single employee using only a small portion of their workday.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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.