Let the EHR Modernization Commence

Jens Koegler Healthcare , , , ,

VMware Healthcare Blog, July 2021, James Millington, Director of Product Marketing

According to data provided by Definitive Healthcare, 74% of all Epic customers utilize VMware software defined data center (SDDC) solutions to host their Epic infrastructure – rising to 94% for hospitals with greater than one thousand beds. 

Epic customers can also leverage VMware hybrid cloud solutions to extend critical infrastructure workloads to the public cloud with VMware Cloud and Azure VMware Solution to provide new options for scalability, disaster recovery and business continuity.

EHR Modernization Gaining Momentum

The overall trend towards cloud adoption in healthcare has been gaining momentum. In a recent VMware survey of global healthcare IT leaders(1), research shows that cloud adoption is rising based on goals of modernizing legacy apps, scale, and automation. The research also showed that 53% of respondents plan to increase the number of clouds they use to include public clouds, private clouds, and edge environments. By the end of 2021, survey respondents expect to use on average more than 8 total clouds– up from the year prior. 

So, the story in healthcare is most certainly no longer about “if” cloud or even “when” cloud, the story is “which clouds.”

Modern Multi-Cloud Computing for Healthcare with VMware Cloud

VMware Cloud is a distributed, multi-cloud platform that provides consistent infrastructure and operations across the data center, edge, and any cloud. With VMware Cloud, healthcare customers gain the simplicity of a single cloud operating model for their multi-cloud reality. Healthcare organizations can build and scale across private and public clouds as necessary, delivering centralized management, anywhere access, faster deployment, improved data security, and reduced total cost of ownership. Although most organizations will still utilize the investments in their primary data center, secondary data centers built for high availability or disaster recovery, or those that were acquired during a merger or acquisition, are prime for cloud migration.

Modernizing the Experience…for Users and IT

Application virtualization technology has been the primary method to deploy the Epic user interface. Changes expected next year provide an opportunity for customers to re-evaluate the use of application virtualization enabling a fresh look at how patient information is delivered into the hands of providers across desktop and mobile devices in any location.

The Anywhere Care Workspace solution from VMware is designed to meet the needs of today’s distributed healthcare with device choice, flexibility, and seamless consistent high-quality experiences. Healthcare organizations globally have seen the importance of being able to quickly establish care locations, putting patient information in the hands of providers wherever it is needed. The Anywhere Care Workspace enables HCOs to empower providers by distributing, updating, and securing applications, including desktop and mobile applications, to the right device at the right time for the right task. Examples include:

  1. Mobile apps to an iPad in a pop-up vaccinations center
  2. Windows native application install to a laptop or virtual desktop for Tap Turn Treat efficiency
  3. A hospital owned mobile device and mobile apps for a phlebotomist
  4. A BYO device for a doctor to check on the latest test results

The Anywhere Care Workspace solution from VMware comprises healthcare industry leading (2)  Workspace ONE mobile and desktop virtualization technologies to deliver Windows and mobile-native apps to laptops, desktops, tablets, and mobile devices, and virtual desktops for fast “tap, turn, treat” access for providers as they move from patient room to patient room or to remote or affiliate users and locations.

Healthcare Organizations Driving Digital First Strategies:

Healthcare IT is modernizing rapidly. VMware is helping organizations adapt and where necessary react to new opportunities and changing realities. For example, prior to the COVID 19 pandemic Nebraska Medicine, the Omaha-based healthcare provider, had made investments in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and next-generation virtual networking technology using VMware Workspace One™ and VMware NSX™. Those investments shaped the way the organization reacted to the global pandemic. “We were in a great position to truly transform the patient journey,” says Brian Lancaster. CIO Nebraska Medicine. “We were immediately able to shift and interact virtually with patients who had been admitted to the hospital, reducing the exposure of physicians and staff to the virus, and saving precious PPE [personal protective equipment] at a critical time,”

Similarly, when COVID forced many employees to quickly set up home offices faculty and staff , MD Anderson were able to quickly enable faculty and staff to easily set up their own SD-WAN service at home, and have the same experience working offsite as they would onsite. This enabled hundreds of radiologists across the country have the network resources to collaborate seamlessly and continue keep critical patients treated and safe.

And finally, Sentara Healthcare’s hyperconverged infrastructure that includes VMware vSAN and VMware NSX, enabled them to meet the needs of moving staff to a remote working model during the pandemic. It also allowed them to set up COVID field hospitals, emergency response tents, and mass vaccination sites. This highly scalable infrastructure reliably supports a digital workspace environment featuring VMware Horizon Apps serving 14,000 concurrent Epic EMR users.

EHR modernization is upon us, and the time for healthcare providers to modernize care delivery has arrived. Watch this webinar to learn how VMware Cloud on AWS solution can help you accelerate towards modern EHR delivery.

  1. VMware FY22 Q1 Executive Pulse, January 2021 
  2. Definitive Healthcare, Technology+, Vendor Market Share Software, June 2021.

James Millington

James Millington is Director of Product Marketing at VMware End User Computing, working with customers and partners globally to deliver solutions that drive digital transformation with Workspace ONE. He has previously led the healthcare sector product marketing for all VMware solutions with a focus on improved provider productivity leading to improved patient care. Prior to joining VMware, James held product marketing and product management positions at Imprivata and Citrix. James holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University in the UK.

VMware Blog Page:

https://blogs.vmware.com/industry-solutions/2021/07/15/let-the-ehr-modernization-commence/

Jens Koegler

Jens Koegler is VMware's Healthcare Industry Director in EMEA. He is helping our healthcare customers develop and run modern applications to drive innovation and ensure better patient care through a digital foundation that includes data center, hybrid cloud, mobile, networking and security technologies. VMware plays a strategic role in the healthcare industry. Its leading innovations in enterprise software help ensure consistent patient care and reduce IT access time for healthcare professionals so they can spend more time with their patients. Jens plays a key role in helping customers understand how new applications, devices, the latest IT technologies and digital transformation are driving innovation in healthcare.