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The Healthcare Data Storage Dilemma

02/10/2017

Headquartered in Ohio, one of the largest integrated healthcare delivery systems in the state was grappling with challenging realities of modern healthcare, including:

  • Aging IT infrastructure
  • Double-digit annual growth in data storage needs due to increasing patient data digitalization
  • Intensifying threat of privacy breaches and data theft – and consequent need for high-level security and privacy protection
  • Need for data accessibility, storage management and synchronous replication
  • Limited resources to allocate to IT infrastructure and maintenance

The client needed a storage solution with growth capacity and management (either automated or delivered as-a-service). And they needed it with a high level of security, privacy protections, accessibility and cost-effectiveness.

An external provider seemed like a solution to this dilemma.

However, concerns about data protection, patient information sensitivity, and internal/external HIPAA and HITECH auditing procedures were a significant barrier.

The consequences of suboptimal data security and privacy management practices, whether internal or in an external provider, can be financially devastating.

Healthcare data breaches are on the rise because health records are valuable on the black market. In the U.S., according to the most recent research from the Ponemon Institute and IBM, the average cost to an organization of a single lost or stolen record containing private information is $201.

Multiply $201 by the number of health records in your system. These are the financial stakes of a breach.

The client was right to be cautious.

The client was familiar with Involta because not only does Involta work with healthcare providers across the country, the company owns and operates a state-of-the-art data center in Akron, Ohio.

That facility, like all Involta facilities, is built and run to rigorous standards of physical and operational security that also protects data privacy. ITIL processes and annual SSAE 16 audits ensure consistent, excellent service.

Involta was able to deliver a solution with substantial performance and cost benefits, including:

  • Saved 4 Full Time Equivalents (FTE) – major reduction in IT administration costs
  • Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
  • Increased cost predictability
  • Minimized capital expenditure on IT infrastructure, shifted costs to operating expenditure
  • Optimized service level and price
  • Enhanced security and privacy protections, reducing the organization’s overall risk profile
  • Scalability – ability to dynamically adjust storage capacity based on need rather than investing in building and managing IT infrastructure based on projected demand

Click the button to download the full case study to find out how.

Download the Case Study

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