IT Outsourcing Helps Focus on Patient Care

A new comprehensive health information technology (IT) system is helping healthcare facilities achieve tangible quality and patient safety outcomes, while forming the basis for an enterprise-wide electronic health record (EHR).

Siemens Medical Solutions has signed a strategic multi-year agreement to provide information technology (IT) outsourcing and consulting services to Baptist Saint Anthony (BSA) Health System in (Amarillo, TX, USA). Through this strategic agreement, Siemens will provide BSA with one point of accountability for IT support and remotely manage the facility's use of Invision, Siemens' health information system (HIT).

Prior to partnering with Siemens, BSA outsourced the majority of its IT operations except for Invision, which was managed in-house by BSA IT employees for more than 10 years. Within that time period, Invision became an integral part of BSA's healthcare IT initiatives. However, as BSA's patient numbers grew and the organization's dependence on IT as a strategic asset followed suit, management of core systems, as well as other various applications, servers, and infrastructure vendors became increasingly challenging.

Siemens operates one of the health industry's most advanced network operations center for remote hosting of applications from its Information Systems Center (ISC). Providing many connectivity options, the ISC utilizes the most advanced technology to provide around-the-clock reliability, and in many cases, sub-second response time. The ISC currently processes more than 150 million healthcare transactions each day, originating from more than 30 different applications.

As part of the IT outsourcing arrangement, IT employees at BSA will continue to serve the facility on-site but will be employed by Siemens. Siemens' comprehensive services are tackling the growing complexity of its customers' IT needs. This includes established service level agreements, predictable IT costs and economies of scale, improved end-user satisfaction and productivity, knowledge and application of industry best practices, career growth for employees, and accelerated IT implementations.



Related Links:
Siemens Medical Solutions