Health Network Uses Connectivity to Improve Patient Experience and Support Rapid Growth

“With the…platforms we have in place today, we’re able to deliver a five-nines reliability score to all of our acute care facilities.”—Robert Hale, Manager, Infrastructure, Novant Health

Challenge: Mitigate network outages and latency while growing the organization and delivering exceptional patient experiences

Novant Health physicians, clinics and hospitals depend heavily on the flow of information and 24/7/365 uptime. Electronic medical records (EMRs), large MRI images, CT scans and lab results must be available with no delay. Any network interruption would disrupt every aspect of care for the millions of patients served each year by Novant Health caregivers. With the number of Novant Health locations increasing rapidly, the organization needed a partner that could quickly add new sites to the network while ensuring reliable, secure connectivity for every facility.

Solution: Deploy a redundant, scalable network

Novant Health partnered with Spectrum Enterprise to design and implement a scalable fiber network that supports aggressive growth and helps the health system deliver on its promise of remarkable healthcare. Wavelength Services, a high-bandwidth Spectrum Enterprise solution, connects Novant Health’s main and off-site data centers for high-speed data transfer of even the largest files. Wavelengths also connects main hospital campuses to the main data center, which reduces latency while providing file replication and backup.

All locations access and download information from the data centers via multiple Ethernet Private LAN (EP-LAN) networks, which enables Novant Health to maintain business as usual if one EP-LAN goes down.

Results: High-bandwidth network helps drive patient-centric healthcare and supports ongoing growth

Thanks to the dedicated high-speed fiber network, all Novant Health facilities have reliable access to the EMR system and business applications. This digital infrastructure enables a consistently high level of patient care while accommodating growth — approximately two new clinical locations are added every week. It has also enabled Novant Health’s acute-care medical centers to achieve 99.999 percent network reliability.

In addition, the network serves 800,000 users of Novant Health’s MyChart patient portal, which allows patients to schedule appointments, refill prescriptions and interact with physicians. The network’s ample bandwidth even supports amenities such as high-definition TV service in patient rooms and waiting areas.

Read the full case study for insights on how a scalable, high-bandwidth network can help your business grow.

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