Wifi Revolution

For WellStar Health System which is comprised of five non-profit hospitals and a community of 600,000 people, delivering the best healthcare is not limited to just exams and procedures. Offering an extensive list of services designed to improve the quality of care and environment are also part of their mission – and that includes Internet access.

 

WellStar Partners turned to Wandering WiFi to implement a secure network separate from that of hospital administrators for patients and visitors of patients to use. With Wandering WiFi’s (News - Alert) high-security solution in place, patients and visitors have free access to the Internet at all five of WellStar’s hospital locations.

 

Using the virtual local area network (VLAN) technology already in place and integrating a virtual private network (VPN), Wandering WiFi was able to add an encryption layer to WellStar’s existing secure network while also providing the ability to track and monitor all traffic from a central location, prioritize bandwidth utilization and restrict access to sites with objectionable content.

 

“Wandering WiFi gives us the opportunity to offer patients across our network Internet access with complete security and within HIPAA guidelines – something we haven’t been able to achieve in the past. We are very excited to be one of the first healthcare systems to offer secure WiFi to patients,” said Cathy Parmly, technical development director of WellStar Health System in a statement.

 

HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy regulations require that access to patient information be limited to only those authorized, and that only the information necessary for a task be available to them. And finally that personal health information must be protected and kept confidential.

 

Guarding the security of patients was first and foremost a priority for WellStar. Because of Wandering WiFi’s technology and secure access, administrators were able to separate traffic on the entire network.

 

“By leveraging WellStar’s wireless infrastructure and integrating our industry-leading software, we were able to roll-out a secure, branded patient Wi-Fi experience throughout five hospitals without a significant capital investment. And because we have an on-shore technical support team dedicated to managing WellStar’s network, its customers get the highest level of service, with no additional burden on WellStar’s IT staff,” said John Marshall, president of Wandering WiFi.

 

WellStar Health System includes Cobb, Douglas, Kennestone, Paulding and Windy Hill hospitals in Georgia.

 

 

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