OhioHealth: Service at the Speed of Life

JIM LOWDER SYSTEM VP FOR TECHNOLOGY, OHIOHEALTH

THE CHALLENGE: For OhioHealth, a nationally recognized, not-for-profi t organization based in Columbus, Ohio, having fast, robust, and reliable technology can literally be a matter of life or death.

OhioHealth’s network includes hospitals, clinics, and physician practices across central Ohio. Its technology is used for everything from monitoring newborns to remote specialist observation of intensive care patients to connecting stroke victims with neurologists during the critical time immediately post-stroke. Patient outcomes must never be put at risk because of network downtime.

Moreover, OhioHealth must meet HIPAA and HITECH requirements for privacy, system availability, disaster recovery, and redundancy.

THE SOLUTION: OhioHealth fi rst partnered with Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC) in 2004 to link its diverse and dispersed community hospitals and physician practices, and to centralize resources. Over the years, OhioHealth and TWCBC have worked closely together to facilitate OhioHealth’s rapid expansion and the technology-enabled evolution of medical care. Today, TWCBC provides

Service at the Speed of Life

OhioHealth fi nds that world-class technology is the key to delivering world-class healthcare.

OhioHealth with a 100 Mbps pointto-point Ethernet Private Line (EPL) across 50 hospital locations; 300 Mbps Dedicated Internet Access (DIA); and Business Internet Access services with speeds up to 100 Mbps connecting the organization’s smaller offi ces.

All this gives OhioHealth the speed and capacity for high-bandwidth activities, such as streaming two-way audio and video. That means skilled ICU "intensivists" at a central metropolitan facility can now remotely monitor critical patients in hospitals that don't have 24-hour access to onsite specialized ICU staff. "The eICU® doesn't replace the physicians and nurses who are at the facility," explains Jim Lowder, system vice president for technology. "But it provides a level of oversight that ordinarily would not be available in a more remote location."

THE RESULT: OhioHealth’s advanced technological capabilities have allowed it to be on the leading edge of health care. • World-class service: “In health care today, it’s not a single provider, but an entire team,” Lowder explains. “With everything being electronic, all information—even consults— is available in real time to everyone caring for the patient. Plus, with

HIPAA and HITECH, you need to look at the ‘meaningful use’ of electronic medical records: how you’re using technology to make sure you’re caring for all patients appropriately, from vaccinations and education to follow-up. All that comes from the technology that is riding over our Time Warner Cable Business Class circuits.” • Expert care in remote locations: Technology also extends top clinical services into rural regions and community hospitals, and can eliminate 100-mile trips for patients who need the services of specialists. • Streamlined administration: OhioHealth’s solution streamlines fi nancial and administrative functions, including supporting the move toward ASPs (application service providers) and cloud services. “Things like billing and insurance verifi cation are done in real time and rely on Internet connectivity,” Lowder notes.

Finally, OhioHealth’s forward-looking management wants the ability to support knowledge transfer across mobile and handheld devices. The bottom line for OhioHealth, says Lowder, is, “How do I leverage technology to enable and deliver world-class clinical services?” With TWCBC as a partner, Lowder feels confi dent that OhioHealth will continue to fi nd the solutions it needs.

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