Providence Health System, Oregon, is a division of a not-for-profit hospital system spanning four states. It has seven hospitals within the state of Oregon.

The Challenge: Attracting and Retaining Doctors by Improving Application Access

Providence Health System wanted to deliver critical information such as lab results and medication information to doctors’ fingertips, whether in the hospital, in a private office, or at home. “With the majority of our doctors in private practice, and the healthcare field being so competitive, it was important for us provide top notch benefits to retain and attract doctors,” remarked Dr. Richard Gibson, Chief Medical Information Officer for Providence Health System. “It was our goal to add value by simplifying our doctors’ busy lives, and enhancing their productivity.”

The hospital has a diverse computing environment, with applications from different vendors, ranging from the latest Web-based applications to legacy applications. “Rewriting the legacy applications to Web-enable them would have involved a lot of money and time and vendors were not prepared to do this,” said Gibson. “We were looking for a solution that would allow us to deploy all these applications easily and cost effectively via the Web, without any application rewrites.”

In addition, the hospital needed an extremely secure solution because doctors access highly confidential patient information over the network.

Implementing Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server

Providence Health System, Oregon implemented Citrix® MetaFrame® Presentation Server for Windows®, including the web interface and secure gateway features, to create a workforce mobility solution for doctors. By using standard Internet protocols to penetrate firewalls, web interface enables users to access any application from a Web browser. Secure gateway protects users of Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server across the Internet by functioning as an SSL gateway between Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Servers and Citrix Independent Computing Architecture (ICA®) client devices.

The Citrix solution and RSA SecurID enable the hospital to provide over 800 doctors with secure, Web-based access to applications such as Logician, Physician Portal, and Image Manager. In addition, the hospital’s 80211B wireless network enables doctors, nurses and administrators to access key data on wireless laptops.

Gaining a Competitive Edge while Meeting HIPAA Regulations

“Our hospital has gained a competitive edge by creating a computing environment that simplifies the lives of doctors,” said Gibson. “With a simple connection to the Internet, doctors can access patient information such as X-ray data and medication information from their homes, offices or a patient’s bedside.”

By relying on Citrix technology, the hospital is also meeting important HIPAA regulations in the area of remote access. “As required by HIPAA, Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server provides a system that is encrypted and user-authenticated,” explained Gibson. “We offer our doctors a secure connection, and patients are assured of confidentiality.”
 
Instead of waiting on the phone while a nurse or the lab looks up patient information, a doctor can easily access the information within seconds from a secure Web site. “Citrix software has helped save time not just for doctors, but also for office managers in doctors’ offices,” says Gibson. “This has freed up hospital resources, resulting in a reduction in operating costs.”

The Citrix solution enables users of any type of device, wireless or wired, across any connection to access information. “For example, users of Macintosh devices are easily accessing our Windows-based applications,” said Gibson.

The centralized management capabilities of Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server make it easy for Gibson’s team to support a growing user base. “We can easily install and upgrade applications at the hospital, and make them immediately available to all our users,” concludes Gibson.  “The Citrix solution has helped the overall productivity of the hospital.”

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