East Boston Neighborhood Health Provides Better Care
EBNHC is committed to providing quality patient care by incorporating cutting-edge healthcare technology. For EBNHC’s new clinic, Vice President and CTO James Hill and his team set out to create a mobile infrastructure that provided a 100% wireless environment. EBNHC’s priorities included a separate network for guests and instantaneous data access for clinicians and nurses. The goal: a clinician could gain access to their Epic environment quickly on their mobile devices to provide better patient care.
“Comport has what it takes to support us moving forward, they are a great partner” James Hill, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.
Wireless Infrastructure “Bakeoff” – Aruba Wireless Clear Winner
EBNHC’s Network manager, Cliff Strout, tested different wireless providers to see which would perform best on-site. He set up demo environments featuring competing technologies including Meraki (now Cisco), HPE’s M-Series, Aerohive and Aruba, so that he could monitor wireless coverage, individual AP performance, and overall speed tests. Additional considerations were security and network configurations offered by each vendor. Aruba won in all measures.
Testing 123
EBNHC first rolled out Aruba infrastructure in its education and training institute. Aruba’s success in that initial test environment sealed the deal. Aruba Clearpass added secure network access control. ClearPass’ sophisticated management platform provided EBNHC with the security of a traditional network in a wireless package. With ClearPass, EBNHC could achieve its primary goal of offering advanced, secure wireless capabilities to both staff and guests.
Aruba Wireless Integration
Once the decision was made, the EBNHC team searched for a solution provider that fit their needs. Since this project was supported by a federal grant, they needed a vendor who understood the requirements and timelines of grant funded projects. The chosen vendor should provide the best cost scenario for their budget. After a thorough bidding process, Comport Healthcare Solutions was selected for services. EBNHC’s IT team was elated, having worked with Comport in the past. “Comport had a complete solution. The other providers were simply selling us the boxes,” explained James Hill. “I felt more comfortable with Comport providing me with guidance on the install. Comport has a very good relationship with HPE as well, and we knew they could leverage that.”
Aruba Wireless Benefits
With Aruba’s new, streamlined infrastructure, EBNHC no longer needs to maintain three disparate networks. The network is easy for the IT team to manage, lowering support time, maintenance costs, and allowing the team to take on more strategic initiatives for the company.
Most importantly, the patients and clinicians are happy. “Patients like to use our new guest wireless and it is definitely a plus for patient satisfaction,” says Hill. “Having our new Winthrop Clinic entirely wireless positions us as the clinic of the future. Our providers based there are pleased.” Hill’s IT team is already looking to the future, with plans to continue their best-in-class technology implementations to hit their goal of an outstanding patient experience.
About East Boston Neighborhood Health Center
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) has served Boston and the surrounding areas for over 45 years. Providing high-quality, affordable, personalized primary care to virtually every resident of East Boston, EBNHC embraces every patient that walks through their doors, regardless of age, income level, language, or culture.
Author: Bill Flatley, Field CTO for Healthcare
Bill is responsible for technical strategies and recommendations for Comport’s Healthcare clients. His extensive experience includes four healthcare systems in leadership roles supporting Clinical Applications, Digital Health, and Office of the CIO as the primary liaison between IT and the business.
