VMware’s Digital Clinical Workspace enables always-available, secure, simple access to patient information.
VMware, Inc. highlighted several healthcare customers who are partnering with the company to transform the business and the practice of delivering patient care at HIMSS18. Additionally, VMware will be honored at the Best in KLAS Awards reception at HIMSS and will take home top honors in the Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) software categories.
Delivering a Digital Clinical Workspace to Provide the Best Patient Care at Any Location
Healthcare has moved beyond the walls of a hospital or doctor’s office. Mobility is critical to new models of patient care, to the quality of life of both patients and providers, and to the competitive advantage of a healthcare organization. From the out-of-hours emergency call to the bedside consult, VMware’s Digital Clinical Workspace enables always-available, secure, simple access to patient information.
One customer, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, tapped into VMware’s mobility solutions to provide better experiences for patients, families and nurses. In every room of the 465-bed children’s hospital, patients are given personalized iPads to help connect them with the world beyond the hospital walls during what can be an emotional and challenging time. In addition to having access to entertainment and social apps, patients and their parents can access appointment records and schedules. Nurses are given mobile devices loaded with a care app to help them improve their efficiency and accuracy – no matter where their job takes them on any given day. All Phoenix Children’s iPads and mobile devices utilized by patients and staff are managed with a zero-touch mobile device management and provisioning solution based on VMware AirWatch and GroundControl, a VMware MDM partner.
“Being in IT, we don’t always get to feel we’ve made a difference in children’s lives the way doctors and nurses do,” said David Higginson, EVP/chief administrative officer/chief information officer, Phoenix Children’s Hospital. “That’s exactly what AirWatch and GroundControl enabled. We help patients feel more comfortable by giving them a device with personalized communication and entertainment options. It’s a morale booster, and when you’re talking about a sick child, the importance of a positive outlook cannot be overstated.”
To learn more about Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s deployment of VMware mobility solutions, you can attend the session David Higginson is hosting at the HIMSS Digital Connected Health Conference on March 5.
Another customer, Mercy, is leveraging VMware technology to be better partners with their patients, giving them more guidance and preventing problems before they happen. Mercy is an integrated healthcare organization with 44 hospitals and more than 700 physician practices and outpatient facilities, serving millions of patients each year. Mobile devices increase care in patients’ homes, extending their clinical care team. Mercy also uses the tablet-based Mercy Bedside app, managed by VMware AirWatch, which patients and their families can use while in the hospital to ease the care process. Scott Richert, VP of Enterprise Infrastructure, Mercy, said, “Our goal is to use technology to take some of the friction points out of the patient care process.”
VMware AirWatch, the solution utilized by Phoenix’s Children’s Hospital and Mercy to mobilize patients and doctors alike, was recently recognized as a KLAS Category Leader for EMM and MDM by KLAS Research, a healthcare IT data and insights company. The Category Leader award is given to vendors to recognize their outstanding efforts to help healthcare professionals deliver better patient care.
Transforming Security to Protect Patient Information
No organization can afford to fall victim to cyberattacks, particularly healthcare organizations entrusted with sensitive patient data. There is no silver bullet to data privacy and healthcare organizations must combine physical, technical and educational approaches to avoid the threats of ransomware, malware, spear phishing attacks, and more. VMware provides a multi-layered approach to help healthcare organizations significantly mitigate the threats repercussions of a security breach.
Nebraska Medicine, one of Nebraska’s leading healthcare systems, prioritizes delivering top-quality care while always working to improve operational efficiencies. To achieve this, Nebraska Medicine set out on a journey with VMware to transform data security, enhance regulatory compliance and improve electronic medical records (EMR) efficiency. At the same time, its clinical professionals wanted better mobile solutions, and IT wanted to support a more secure bring-your-own-device environment. To achieve their strategic vision, Nebraska Medicine automated its complex environment and secured its EPIC EMR software through VMware NSX. In addition, the customer increased visibility into its network with VMware vRealize Network Insight. Finally, VMware’s mobility solutions give patients better experiences with bedside tablets and help clinical staff access the EPIC environment on the device of their choice.
“If you look at today’s environment, cybersecurity is the top priority at our organization. We have a complex EPIC environment and found that NSX was the only solution that would allow us to tailor workflows,” said Brian Lancaster is the vice president of information technology at Nebraska Medicine. “The ROI associated with our deployment of NSX is upward of $30 million. In addition to safeguarding ourselves against costly breaches we are also gaining efficiencies by virtualizing the key aspects of our EPIC network environment.”
Modernizing Cloud Infrastructure to Introduce and Scale Services Quickly
With the recent turn to technology to find improved ways of providing patient care at lower costs, new devices, apps and sensors are quickly being explored and adopted. With these new endpoints joining the network, healthcare organizations are reassessing their cloud infrastructure as a way to scale existing care networks. VMware simplifies the path to hybrid cloud by providing the flexibility to innovate freely – running, managing, connecting and securing applications across public and private clouds and devices in a common operating environment.
For more information: www.vmware.com/solutions/industry/healthcare
April 11, 2024 
