You’ve built a Hospital Information System infrastructure, what’s next?
Are you tasked to design and deploy a modern wired and wireless Hospital Information System infrastructure that provides a high level of service and availability?
If so, much thought throughout the design must be given to ensure success from day one without requiring an upgrade or replacement cycle for another five to seven years. Here are some must-have principles that should be considered.
Must-Have Principles for Hospital Information Systems Infrastructure
1. Ensure the architecture is secure and compliant.
2. Build for high availability, 24/7/365 operation.
3. Build for performance: provide sufficient capacity for modern medical technology, video, Tele-ICU and remote PACS viewing.
4. Make the infrastructure manageable; provide facilities for remote access and monitoring.
5. Supports future technologies to avoid the replacement of existing infrastructure during the next five years.
6. Design with 30% excess capacity to support growth for the next five years.
7. Use leading edge technology practices such as cloud computing and virtualization for cost savings and redundancy.
8. Engage multiple carriers to ensure high availability with telephony and network services.
Now that you have the guidelines set for your desired infrastructure, you’re not done. Here’s what comes next.
Developing a Hospital Information System IT Strategy
1. Deploy a modern wired and wireless infrastructure that provides a high level of service and availability.
2. Deploy all infrastructure capacity necessary for success from day one without requiring an upgrade or replacement cycle for five to seven years.
3. Achieve full integration of the hospital information system with medical devices and interactive patient care to enable delivery of quality patient care and improved patient safety.
4. Deliver care coordination outside the four walls of the hospital by providing:
– Patient data sharing agreements with local Department of Health Services;
– Health Information Exchange capabilities;
– Care Coordination Documents for clinics and other facilities;
– Patient and physician portals;
– Tele-ICU monitoring and PACS viewing capabilities in coordination with various organizations and physicians; and
– An organization framework capable of providing professional support and on- going improvements to the infrastructure and application portfolio over time.
Now that your infrastructure’s complete, perform all of the following in the next 16 months.
Ready? Go!
1. Create a comprehensive application portfolio to cover clinical, financial, human capital management, materials management and numerous other hospital functions.
2. Evaluate, select, test and integrate 40 software packages.
3. Negotiate, contract and manage 26 vendors.
4. Integrate 103 unique medical devices into the electronic medical records.
5. Ensure 134 interfaces are properly built and proven operationally ready.
6. Architect, engineer, install, configure and test over 1,000 unique hardware items in the server room, equipment closets and hospital floors.
7. Design, configure, deploy and support the IP-based phone system as well as the analog backup system and emergency phone system.
8. Define, deploy and network enable the user profiles and desktop images.
9. Add cabling and WAPs to support a high density wireless network for a high number of internal/external users.
10. Set up the ICU to support Tele-ICU.
11. Install and test interactive patient care equipment in patient rooms.
12. Develop and test a disaster recovery plan in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
13. Ensure all required compliance documentation is drafted and approved.
14. Ramp up support.
15. Test early and test often.
16. Establish a command center.
17. Go-live!
For some sound guidance through the often complex process of planning, designing, or implementing a Hospital System IT infrastructure, contact PlanNet. We’re here to help.
