For decades, clinicians have connected to healthcare systems, such as Epic Hyperspace, with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops solutions. The combination of best-of-breed solutions from Citrix and Epic has become the de facto application virtualization solution for electronic health record (EHR) systems.

Now, healthcare organizations can leverage the simplicity and flexibility of cloud services to make IT management less complex, as Citrix has transformed its Virtual Apps and Desktops solutions into an easy-to-deploy cloud service that provides a high-performance user access experience, security controls, and management tools IT organizations depend on for their EHR systems.

There has never been a better time to start leveraging Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service to manage and deliver Epic workloads.

Let’s take a detailed look at the integration points between Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service and Epic Hyperspace.

Epic and Citrix Deployment Recommendations

To meet customer demand, Citrix and Epic have made enhancements in technology and documentation to ensure that healthcare users remain highly productive while IT can take advantage of the cloud benefits of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service. To showcase this joint integration, Epic has outlined recommendations (found under Target Platform Notes > Hyperspace > Citrix Cloud) for leveraging Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service in deploying its applications. Through research and collaboration with Citrix, Epic clarifies its stance on the Citrix cloud solution by detailing infrastructure deployment, configurations for high availability, and other valuable guidance for integration. Critical to this guidance, Epic provides a key reference to using Citrix StoreFront with Local Host Cache. On the Citrix side, similar guidance for Epic deployments is found in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service reference architecture. Learn more about Local Host Cache.

Another key deployment consideration is Citrix support for the Virtual Apps and Desktops service with Long Term Service Release (LTSR) versions of the virtual delivery agents (VDA) — specifically the 7.15 LTSR VDA and 1912 LTSR VDA. These LTSR VDAs have five years of mainstream support. This makes it easier for Epic customers to maintain long-term certification standards on application servers but still receive the new Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop service features and capabilities they gain with the fast pace of innovation from Citrix cloud service. This combination of LTSR VDAs and Citrix cloud service provides admins a supported deployment model that aligns with the documented product lifecycle of the respective LTSR, as documented here.

Introducing Concurrent Licensing for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service

Citrix primarily offers its cloud services in a user licensing model, but in healthcare, the concurrent licensing model is extremely popular. Concurrent licenses allow a single connection from any device to a virtual desktop or set of virtual applications. Once the user session is terminated, the license is immediately released and available for reassignment to the next user.

The concurrent licensing model addresses licensing scenarios for shift workers and workstations-on-wheels, both of which are key in healthcare. To better serve its healthcare customers, Citrix has introduced the Virtual Apps and Desktops service in a concurrent licensing model. This makes it easier for healthcare providers to consume the cloud service.

Alignment with Healthcare Industry Compliance Standards

Citrix recognizes that security, certifications, and compliance are paramount in healthcare IT deployments. We have invested heavily in industry compliance certifications for our fast-growing cloud services. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service has attained SOC2 Type II attestation and HIPAA attestation, and Citrix has status under the Business Associate Agreement (BAA).

We have also passed independent audits to achieve the required attestation certifications. More information on Citrix certifications can be found in the Citrix Trust Center.

Successful Joint Customer Deployments

Several Citrix customers have successfully undergone their cloud transformation initiatives with Citrix cloud services. Many are in healthcare, and they quickly see results.

One healthcare customer, after their recent implementation, commented, “We went from zero Citrix anything to having an externally accessible application in 24 hours.”

Another large healthcare provider recently deployed more than 67,000 active users and surpassed 1.8 million Epic Hyperspace sessions per month (the numbers are constantly increasing). The customer made this massive transformation to Citrix cloud services in couple of months. One of the key takeaways the customer noted regarding the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service was the distinct ability to maturely handle the scale of the deployment. Most importantly, we have another happy healthcare customer leveraging Citrix cloud services at scale. As cloud gains momentum in the healthcare industry, Citrix remains committed to providing the best experience for both IT and end users.

In the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Citrix is focused on providing its healthcare customers — clinicians as well as non-clinical professionals — with solutions that enable them to remain engaged and productive no matter where they are working. To simplify your cloud experience, our customer success team has been expanded with the addition of our new Citrix Cloud Success Center. This support is included with your cloud subscription and makes it even easier to move to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service.

We’re here for you and in this together and look forward to continuing to evolve our solutions to provide you with the tools you need to keep your operations and employees performing at their best.