While many wish to prevent illness and combat health issues, Healthways is proactively promoting well-being through their commitment to “making the world a healthier place—one individual at a time.” Based in Franklin, Tennessee, Healthways has been operating for over 30 years in delivering health expertise to organizations and reducing health-related costs.

Customers use a web-based technology platform from Healthways called Embrace to collaborate and manage personalized health support. Since beginning, the number of users accessing Embrace has increased significantly – which means that Healthways must keep up with the demand. Rather than attempt to continue supporting their legacy infrastructure, Healthways decided to use Cisco® Technology to reinforce their infrastructure and get four times the capacity -- therefore allowing access and providing services for all 10 million users.

In addition, by implementing the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (UCS), based on Intel® Xeon® processors, to increase capacity and strengthen the data center’s architecture, Embrace has realized an 18-20 percent reduction in power and cooling costs and a 20 percent decrease in hardware and licensing costs.

To learn more about their newly-found IT advantages, read Healthways’ story from Unleashing IT.

Tags: collaboration, data center, health care, licensing costs, power and cooling, UCS

I’m not a doctor…but I am a patient.

I’m also a keen observer of the world around me—especially when it involves my health.

For many healthcare professionals, I believe the recent challenges surrounding the industry have taken some of the enjoyment out of their work. Issues such as new and changing regulations, increased lawsuits, escalating costs, and barely manageable patient loads, among others, have all taken their toll on the doctors, nurses, and administrators who, I believe, entered the healthcare field to have a fulfilling, lifelong career serving people and helping them live better lives.

This situation presents a real issue for literally everyone fortunate enough to have access to modern healthcare. Population growth and aging populations in many countries around the world mean we need more healthcare professionals, not fewer. Happier, more productive doctors and nurses mean better care for their patients. And, people who dedicate years of their lives to practice medicine should have a satisfying work experience.

In the United States, demand for physicians will outpace supply by 130,000 by 2025 (Source: AAMC Center for Workforce Studies, 2011)

For healthcare professionals (and the rest of us), I have great news—we are at the cusp of a renaissance in healthcare. Technology—including the Internet of Everything (IoE), robotics, 3-D printing, wearable technology, cloud, mobility, and many others—promises to usher in this new era in healthcare. In short, the best is yet to come.

To make my point, here are a couple of examples that I believe will transform healthcare over the next 10 years. (For those of you attending the HIMSS13 conference March 3-7, I will be presenting several more examples in my keynote speech.) Read More »

Tags: 3-D printing, Argus II, Cisco, Cloud Computing, Eulerian video magnification, health care, healthcare, himss, IBM, IBSG, Internet of Everything, IoE, medical renaissance, mobility, Patient Care, robotics, technology, transformation, Watson

Salem Health is a network of hospitals, rehab facilities, and physician clinics located in the Pacific Northwest. The organization was experiencing major performance issues with their IT infrastructure, which was hurting business processes. And in the healthcare industry, that’s not something to be overlooked. Clinicians were experiencing too much downtime to provide top-of-the-line patient care, not to mention the lack of support and control the company had for their current environment.

In dire need of change, Salem Health overhauled their data center with the Cisco® Unified Computing System™ (UCS), powered by Intel® Xeon® processers. The transition was cost-effective -- saving the business 68 percent in IT expenses – and provided enhanced data replication, decreased downtime, and greatly improved network access.  As a result, Salem Health is able to deliver much better care to patients, and the business is back on track.

Read Salem Health’s full story, which is featured in the latest edition of Unleashing IT.

Tags: cloud, Cloud Computing, health care, Patient Care, virtualization

Return on investment has been around for ages, but the meaning of ROI is taking a spin in today’s business world. Companies are no longer purchasing solutions for technology improvement; they are investing in better industry processes as a whole. In return, they can achieve positive cash flows.

Concentra, a national healthcare company, provides a perfect example. With an outdated data center, the company had exhausted their power and cooling resources and was in need of reconstruction.

Concentra did some research and discovered that, by significantly investing in revamping their IT infrastructure, not only could they dramatically improve efficiencies and performance, but they could also create a positive cash flow for the company.

Furthermore, implementation doesn’t have to be risky. Concentra’s Senior Vice President and CIO, Suzanne Kosub, says, “With the right planning and financial analysis, we were able to show exactly how much the project would cost, how long it would take to pay for itself, and what the company would gain moving forward.”

Read the full story

Tags: Cisco, cloud computiung, data center, health care, IT, ROI, Servers, Unleashing IT, virtualization

By Tine Christensen, Director of US Service Provider Practice, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)

America’s healthcare system has been laid low with a scourge of acute symptoms. Spiraling costs, an epidemic of chronic diseases, and a spike in the senior demographic are all driving a mounting crisis. Throw in a gridlocked U.S. Congress and an unresolved regulatory climate, and a “miracle” cure seems a remote dream.

Lately, however, a healing light has been shining from a surprising source: service providers.

• For patients, SPs can be a source of Read More »

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, follow-up care, health care, healthcare, hospitals, IBSG, insurers, interactions, managed services, medical devices, network, partnerships, patient, preventive care, service providers, technology