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In the rapidly evolving world of Long Term Care, many providers find they are spending an ever larger portion of their
time dealing with IT related issues. The pending Federal and State initiatives for Electronic Medical Records will add to
this situation. While the benefits of EMR are substantial, providers are faced with the daunting tasks of managing a
24/7/365 IT operation. Configuring a server farm, managing software updates, database administration, system
security, redundancy, data backups, etc. is quite expensive and time consuming...
The solution is Application Hosting.
Application Hosting
This IT Delivery model gets you out of the IT business and allows you to focus on managing your healthcare operation. The core concepts of this model are: (content and delivery)
1. Place the management of IT tasks in the hands of experienced IT professionals
2. Utilize state-of-the-art facilities and equipment
3. Utilize redundant, high quality broadband Internet connections
4. Minimize the potential for system down time at the facility
5. Minimize the need for IT maintenance at the facility
There are a number of areas to address at your facility:
What Desktop Devices should I use for Data collection / management?
COWs - Computers On Wheels (wireless)
Kiosks - Wall mounted touch screen terminals
PDAs - Personal Digital Assistants (Palm Pilots, etc.) (wireless)
Computers - Traditional PC Devices
Thin Clients - “Dumb Terminal” both stationary and wireless
Notebooks - Portable computers (wireless)
NetBooks - Small hand held computers (wireless)
HSC will assist you in selecting the devices that best meet your needs to maximize up time and minimize
maintenance costs. Use as many thin client devices as possible to minimize operating system upgrades, virus
issues and spyware issues.
Is my facility network ready for EMR?
Test all cabling
Upgrade all routers and switches to 1Gb
Install a secure wireless network
Use Power Over Ethernet switches for all wireless Acess Points
Choose Robust, remotely accessible access points
Install enough access points to thoroughly cover your facility
Install a networkable copier for the bulk of your printing tasks
Avoid all-in-one devices and inkjet printers
What if the power goes out?
All routers, switches and key desktop devices must be attached to a UPS (battery back up) and, ideally,
plugged into the backup generator circuit.
What if the Internet connection goes down?
We recommend that you acquire two broadband (high speed) Internet connections from two separate
carriers. We recommend that one connection be from the telephone company (DSL or T1) and that the
other connection be from the Cable Television company. This provides protection against an outage at
one of these carriers. These connections are routed through a device that automatically senses
problems with a line and reroutes your internet traffic to the other line until the issue is resolved.
Expect 99% + reliability from this configuration.
What about loading software updates?
Healthcare System Connections staff takes care of that.
What about backing up our data?
Healthcare System Connections staff takes care of that.
What about server maintenance?
Healthcare System Connections staff takes care of that.
What about system security?
Healthcare System Connections staff takes care of that.
What about connecting our EMR and billing systems to our contracted care providers?
Healthcare System Connections staff takes care of that.
What about staff IT training?
Healthcare System Connections staff takes care of that.
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