SOLUTION PROVIDER SPOTLIGHT Sponsored Content


Security without Disruption: Best Practices in Hybrid Care Delivery O


Mike Brandofino President & COO


Caregility


n Nov. 2, at the California Healthcare Innovation Conference, sponsored by Healthcare Innovation at the Sofitel Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, Mike Brandofino, president and COO of Caregility, presented


an Industry Partner Spotlight entitled, “Security without Disruption: Best Practices in Hybrid Care Delivery.” Brandofino began the presentation by explaining that the


pandemic took telehealth from a “nice-to-have” element of patient care to a critical solution overnight. Since the height of the pandemic, U.S. healthcare organizations have embraced hybrid care models that bring virtual workflows into traditional patient care. By applying lessons learned in digital transformation and, in many cases, redeploying resources adopted during the pandemic, many leading health systems are reimagining their virtual care strategy to help address staffing challenges and improve patient safety. Enterprise telehealth is paving the way for virtual engage- ment at every patient’s bedside to reduce clinical blind spots and amplify the reach of limited staff resources. Brandofino stressed the importance of achieving a bal-


ance between security, network, and clinical access when it comes to inpatient virtual care workflows. Cybersecurity teams face many challenges including clinical workstation access, distributed cloud applications, patient and family visitor access, consulting provider access, Wi-Fi for thou- sands of devices, and remote physician portals. He added that network teams also face a number of challenges like thousands of connected IoT devices, thousands of mobile devices, clinical workstations, support of remote locations, and large files and image distribution. “One-size-fits-all enterprise cybersecurity practices


are impacting virtual care and critical access to patients,” Brandofino noted. “Networks that are not properly designed for 24/7 support of two-way video communica- tions negatively impact virtual care program reliability and performance.” Next, Brandofino touched on some security measures


that impede care, including: • Login expirations • Frequent password resets • Device timeouts • Firewall port restrictions “There are also network design elements that impede


care,” Brandofino added. “Such as, DHCP registration requirement, Wi-Fi oversubscription, Wi-Fi frequency/ bandwidth, bandwidth restrictions/management, WAN/ LAN configuration, and optimization toward data applica- tions, not bidirectional video communication.”


Brandofino then began explaining the unique


aspects of bidirectional video communication. These aspects include: • Video frames are broken into packets (1 frame to 50 packets)


• They are compressed, packetized, and reassembled at the receiver end


• Little tolerance for packet delay and jitter • Requires continuous connectivity between sender and receiver


• Managed bandwidth requirements for quality video He then said that Wi-Fi has its own set of challenges,


including not having enough to have good coverage of access points, the number of devices attempting to con- nect can generate bottlenecks, every device contending for every packet, and, finally, retires are fine for data applications but not for bidirectional video. Lessons learned from virtual care at Caregility, accord-


ing to Brandofino, include virtual care systems shouldn’t be treated like corporate PCs, multi-million-dollar invest- ments in networks do not immediately equate to success for virtual care programs, and separation of video traffic should be considered, if possible. Brandofino then brought up 7Signal’s mobile eye,


he said, “Approximately 55% of hospitals spend up to 500 hours on Wi-Fi maintenance to address connectiv- ity issues. By incorporating Mobile Eye across a fleet of patient care devices, that time can be cut considerably— enabling you to offer fast, reliable Wi-Fi to caregivers and better outcomes for patients.” Yet, Brandofino says there is no silver bullet for


achieving the correct balance between security, network management, and virtual care effectives. But there are several key elements organizations should consider, including: • Understanding the clinical experience and expectations


• Leveraging partners’ experience with other healthcare organizations


• Bringing the right resources and tools into the process as early as possible


• Being willing to compromise and think out of the box Brandofino concluded the presentation by saying that


“Balance really begins with communication. Everyone in an organization—nurses and clinical staff, clinical leadership, network engineering, cybersecurity team, and technology partners and solution providers—are need to sit down at the table together to communicate the best course of action for that organization’s needs.”


https://caregility.com


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