Challenges

Typical Challenges in the Health Care Industry

Fragmented, low-margin business

Health care infrastructure is very fragmented and often a low-margin business with increasing costs. The purchase price of a security solution is less than 1/10th of what it costs to administer that solution. In order for the security solution to really bring value to the users, it has to be easy to manage with the least amount of human resources involved. Only then can you truly say that the total cost of using the solution has been significantly lowered.

To ease the administrative burden, StoneGate has centralized management, automated and scheduled remote functions, which all lower administration costs.

Sharing information securely

Securing medical information in transit is of utmost importance. When medical centers, offices, hospitals and medical consultants working remotely share and access information, their connections must be properly secured.

StoneGate VPN can ensure the security for these connections and for the information that is shared, by encrypting the data in transit. In addition to securing the lines, StoneGate can also make them more reliable, guaranteeing that data can be accessed at all times.

Difficult and slow access

Inefficiency due to difficult or slow access to results can cause delays in diagnosing and treating patients. StoneGate Multi-Link provides faster connections to results. Multi-Link ensures that those connections work and increase the bandwidth at which the information is transferred.

Downtime

Inefficiency due to network downtime, has been calculated as costing the health care industry 4% of its yearly revenue. Out of that 42% was attributed to service provider problems or human errors. For a medical organization with modest revenue of $1,000,000 the cost is over $16,800 per year.

StoneGate has been designed to automate as many of the security functions as possible to prevent human errors. Furthermore, downtime due to Internet Service Provider disruptions or problems with own one's network equipment can be eliminated, using StoneGate Multi-Link for link load balancing.

Laws and Regulations

New laws and regulations throughout the world are placing more and more demands on health care providers to secure and protect patient information, especially with the growing trend of using electronic means to share delicate information.

StoneGate's extensive functionality, coupled with highly efficient reporting, helps organizations comply with regulations.

In the United States, for example, health care organizations are guided by the privacy portion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). StoneGate security solution enables an organization or institution to achieve compliance with relevant sections of the act.

For more information and practical examples, please read the document Complying with Regulations: HIPAA (PDF).