Case Study: Leading Midwest Healthcare System Enhances Competitiveness With Secure Access To Key Medical Applications

A commitment to quality patient care, community health, and operational efficiency are the touchstones for Sisters of St. Francis Health Services (SSFHS), a leading Midwestern healthcare system. The health system attributes its success to partnering closely with physicians, collaborating with the community, and taking full advantage of advances in technology. SSFHS, which provides a broad range of acute care services, encompasses twelve major health services in Indiana and Illinois.

SSFHS was an early adopter of McKesson electronic medical records (EMR) and also deployed Heartlab, a state-of-the-art cardiac image management system that allows its different hospitals to manage cardiac data with a single centralized system. It is this deep commitment to advanced technology that put SSFHS on the cutting edge of remote access five years ago. When it deployed its physician portal, it quickly discovered that its incumbent application delivery solution couldn't stand up to the heavy strain of medical imaging.

"We found that we were deploying more and more applications that weren't suitable for a remote access solution based on a remote desktop protocol," said Dr. Dick Roskam, chief clinical informatist at SSFHS. "Citrix couldn't render images fast enough to actually allow viewing of those images."