Healthcare at the Edge: Ensuring Critical Service Availability and Security 

The ongoing trend of pushing computing power closer to the patient is having a significant impact in healthcare. Edge computing allows for clinicians and hospital administrators to deliver patient data in real-time. The real-time capabilities of edge computing enables patient-critical functions such as: 

• Accessing patient records in real-time via tablets: Locally cached records and access to patient EMR/EHR prior to appointments allows providers to see more patients in a given time window.
• Uploading health data from patient wearables and monitoring devices: Data generated from patient devices can provide actionable results sooner than results collected during one appointment and reviewed during the next. 
• Collaborative input: Low latency connections at multiple offices as endpoints can provide a single point of service for input from multiple clinicians, and improve patient experience. 
• Shorter analytics compute time: More computing power at the edge reduces network traffic back-and-forth for the analysis of tests or monitoring data and could mean fewer follow-ups for the patient 
• Viewing complex imaging results: Local caching and digital transport of large imaging files alleviates the need for a patient to visit multiple provider locations and increases patient satisfaction 
• Verification of insurance and expedited check-ins and check-outs: Digital patient records allow reception to focus on more complex tasks, and facilitates security.

Edge computing requires that clinicians and healthcare providers and their patients are located in close proximity to the IT equipment infrastructure. And as these servers and the associated connectivity equipment become more distributed and interconnected, it’s becoming more and more important to monitor and manage the technology stack with IT staff in a centralized location, since clinical staff are not trained in IT matters, to enable real-time patient solutions within each healthcare facility. Any downtime causing an impact to the ability to access critical healthcare information can put patient’s lives at risk, and can cost providers both financially and in reputation: It’s estimated that 70 percent of hospitals have had a patient accidentally injured during unplanned downtime and that electronic medical records downtime can cost healthcare providers upwards of $8,662 per minute that the records system is unavailable.

What are you doing to ensure that your edge facilities have 100% uptime and your users have real-time access to electronic health records (EHR), electronic medical records (EMR), patient billing information, and electronic protected health information (ePHI)? The IT infrastructure storing and giving you access to this information is just as critical as the software scheduling the operating rooms, running in the clinic, and ensuring you have the right supplies.

The Challenges of Edge Computing

No matter where the computing equipment is located – the enterprise data center or an edge facility within a clinic – they have the same demands and accountability requirements. Healthcare providers face three major challenges with edge deployments in remote facilities: 

1. Managing the equipment: Managing edge deployments requires planning beyond that for a traditional enterprise data center. Given the number of sites in many healthcare providers’ portfolios, the scale alone makes management of these sites exponentially more complex to operate and monitor. For it to be an effective and efficient architecture, edge equipment has to work independently of network topology while remaining 100% reliable with uptime to match. 
2. Securing the space:  Security is a significant concern for healthcare providers because of the sensitive personal and medical information they house, and because of the need to comply with industry regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Edge services are enabled via connected devices that touch patient data, payment cards, and insurance records. Threats to the safety of that information come from both the physical space housing the equipment and from physical access to those devices.
3. Assessing potential issues: Environmental conditions can also threaten edge infrastructure, anything from a tenant upstairs with an overflowing drain, to storms creating power spikes and outages, to HVAC failures that can impact day-to-day operations and patient safety if allowed to impact server uptime. Direct physical access can be an issue too. With edge equipment and servers in dispersed locations without oversight from dedicated IT or security staff, healthcare providers rarely know who accesses equipment or if those individuals are authorized to do so. 

In addition to the traditional enterprise data center, a true edge deployment requires a server closet or small computing facility on premises at the hospital or clinic. Because no two hospitals, clinics, or office locations are alike, IT teams do not get the benefit of a homogeneous infrastructure like what they’re accustomed to with the enterprise data center. There is little consistency – each space in each location presents its own challenges and issues over time; things like HVAC and power, internet access, and bandwidth. 

The Solution Threefold

Asset Management

This distributed healthcare environment requires a secure, manageable edge that can be deployed in remote locations without the overhead of on-site IT support. The only way to effectively accomplish this is the ability to monitor each edge deployment from afar – in a network operations center, security operations center, at the enterprise data center, or even from an on-call employee’s mobile device. Visibility into these distributed and disparate spaces is required for IT to diagnose and fix problems quickly and to enable uninterrupted operation. Real-time monitoring with sensors and video, alerts when unexpected events occur, and reporting on changes over time enable actionable responses to minimize and even completely avoid downtime.

For example, if you need to take a specific type of server out of service because a maintenance update is required for HIPAA compliance, real-time data generated by the asset management sensor network allows your IT staff to do so in a cost effective and time sensitive manner. Rather than having to send full-time employees or third-party technicians to every hospital, clinic, and office in the enterprise to verify what devices are in which locations, a real-time report to locate the equipment in question enables staff to begin their roll-out accordingly. It also makes the job easier when you know what devices you have in inventory to deploy as replacements, preventing over-provisioning of costly capital infrastructure.

Physical Security

Additionally, physical security sensors can alert IT staff of unauthorized access to remote facilities and attempts to access sensitive equipment or even attempts to remove a device from the premises. The last thing any chief information security officer wants is to see their name in news articles about fines for a regulatory non-compliance or a data breach containing sensitive patient information. Proper monitoring with sensors and video protects healthcare companies from additional regulatory risk associated with data theft caused by a physical security breach by providing proof that equipment was protected to an acceptable level.

Environmental Conditions 

Monitoring the environment housing your IT equipment means deploying a sensor network that can track the atmosphere of the physical space – temperature, humidity, air pressure, fluid activity, etc. Monitoring the environmental conditions across many facilities is equally as complicated as tracking physical location – different weather conditions in disparate geographical locations require unique understanding of climate, seasonal fluctuations, and how all these factors impact sensitive IT devices. 

In conclusion, edge facilities only bring that value when they’re working efficiently, effectively, and at scale. To do so requires granular, real-time intelligence and alerts for each of your hospitals, clinics, and back-office staff locations with savvy sensor technology.. As edge computing is impacting more and more business operations, edge computing empowers healthcare enterprises to leverage technologies effectively and make informed decisions faster.