Tufts Medical Center ScottCare VersaCare Cloud Migration
About the customer
Tufts Medical Center, located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, is a renowned academic medical institution affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine. Serving both adults and children, Tufts Medical Center is known for its commitment to research, teaching, and patient care. It encompasses a full range of medical services and specialties, including a Level 1 Trauma Center, a comprehensive cancer treatment center, and extensive pediatric services through its Floating Hospital for Children. As a leading center for heart, kidney, and bone marrow transplants, the hospital is at the forefront of medical innovation and patient care. Tufts Medical Center is dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare, advancing medical knowledge through groundbreaking research, and training the next generation of healthcare professionals, solidifying its status as a cornerstone in the medical and academic communities.
Tufts Medical Center was facing significant challenges in monitoring and managing the cardiac health of its patients effectively. The center required a solution that could provide continuous, reliable cardiac monitoring to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment. The traditional methods employed were not only cumbersome and inefficient but also failed to offer the real-time data and analytics needed for making quick, informed medical decisions. Additionally, the medical center grappled with the limitations of on- premises physical data centers, which were costly, difficult to scale, and vulnerable to system failures and security breaches. These data centers were proving inadequate for supporting advanced cardiac monitoring solutions, leading to potential delays in patient care and increased risks of data loss or compromise.
ScottCare VersaCare was designed to address these specific challenges faced by Tufts Medical Center. The system aimed to provide a comprehensive solution for ambulatory cardiac monitoring, enabling real- time data collection and analysis to improve patient outcomes. However, the effectiveness of such a solution was hampered by the existing on-premises infrastructure, which lacked the necessary flexibility and scalability. The infrastructure was not only expensive to maintain but also presented significant challenges in terms of data security and disaster recovery, crucial elements in the sensitive realm of healthcare data.
If Tufts Medical Center had not addressed these problems, the impact could have been severe, particularly in terms of patient care and operational efficiency. Continued reliance on outdated cardiac monitoring methods and the constraints of on-premises data centers would likely have led to delays in diagnosis and treatment, potentially endangering patient health due to the lack of timely and accurate cardiac data. Additionally, the financial strain of maintaining outdated infrastructure could have diverted resources away from essential medical services and innovations. The inherent limitations and security vulnerabilities of the on-premises systems could have resulted in significant data breaches, compromising patient confidentiality, and leading to legal and reputational repercussions. Overall, failing to address these critical issues would have hampered the medical center's ability to provide high-quality, responsive care, ultimately affecting patient outcomes and the center's standing in the healthcare community.
Tufts Medical Center was facing significant challenges in monitoring and managing the cardiac health of its patients effectively. The center required a solution that could provide continuous, reliable cardiac monitoring to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment. The traditional methods employed were not only cumbersome and inefficient but also failed to offer the real-time data and analytics needed for making quick, informed medical decisions. Additionally, the medical center grappled with the limitations of on- premises physical data centers, which were costly, difficult to scale, and vulnerable to system failures and security breaches. These data centers were proving inadequate for supporting advanced cardiac monitoring solutions, leading to potential delays in patient care and increased risks of data loss or compromise.
ScottCare VersaCare was designed to address these specific challenges faced by Tufts Medical Center. The system aimed to provide a comprehensive solution for ambulatory cardiac monitoring, enabling real- time data collection and analysis to improve patient outcomes. However, the effectiveness of such a solution was hampered by the existing on-premises infrastructure, which lacked the necessary flexibility and scalability. The infrastructure was not only expensive to maintain but also presented significant challenges in terms of data security and disaster recovery, crucial elements in the sensitive realm of healthcare data.
If Tufts Medical Center had not addressed these problems, the impact could have been severe, particularly in terms of patient care and operational efficiency. Continued reliance on outdated cardiac monitoring methods and the constraints of on-premises data centers would likely have led to delays in diagnosis and treatment, potentially endangering patient health due to the lack of timely and accurate cardiac data. Additionally, the financial strain of maintaining outdated infrastructure could have diverted resources away from essential medical services and innovations. The inherent limitations and security vulnerabilities of the on-premises systems could have resulted in significant data breaches, compromising patient confidentiality, and leading to legal and reputational repercussions. Overall, failing to address these critical issues would have hampered the medical center's ability to provide high-quality, responsive care, ultimately affecting patient outcomes and the center's standing in the healthcare community.
Partner Solution
Sublimation Health engaged in a strategic partnership with Tufts Medical Center to revolutionize its cardiac monitoring services and address the systemic challenges posed by outdated infrastructure. This collaboration focused on migrating the hospital’s cardiac monitoring systems, specifically integrating the ScottCare VersaCare solution, onto AWS Cloud Hosting, leveraging the robust capabilities of cloud technology to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. The partnership aimed to eliminate the limitations associated with on-premises data centers by adopting a more scalable, secure, and resilient cloud infrastructure.
As part of this transformative initiative, Sublimation Health implemented a comprehensive cloud strategy utilizing AWS's multi-region and multi-availability zone architecture to ensure high availability and disaster recovery for Tufts Medical Center’s critical applications. This approach not only facilitated seamless cardiac monitoring services but also provided a robust framework for data protection, ensuring that patient data was securely managed and easily recoverable in the event of a system failure or disaster. The deployment of automated backups and regular operating system patching further enhanced the system's security and reliability, minimizing the risk of data loss and ensuring that the system was protected against the latest security threats.
Sublimation Health also introduced an active-active SQL database configuration, significantly reducing Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO). This setup ensured continuous synchronization between databases across different geographical locations, allowing for real-time data access and updates. Such a configuration was crucial for maintaining uninterrupted cardiac monitoring services, ensuring that patient data was always current and accessible, thereby facilitating immediate clinical decision-making and treatment.
In addition to the technical deployment, Sublimation Health provided full life-cycle managed services to Tufts Medical Center, overseeing the ongoing operation and maintenance of the cloud-hosted solutions. This included continuous monitoring, performance tuning, security updates, and compliance checks to ensure that the hospital’s cloud infrastructure remained robust, secure, and aligned with healthcare regulations and standards.
As part of this transformative initiative, Sublimation Health implemented a comprehensive cloud strategy utilizing AWS's multi-region and multi-availability zone architecture to ensure high availability and disaster recovery for Tufts Medical Center’s critical applications. This approach not only facilitated seamless cardiac monitoring services but also provided a robust framework for data protection, ensuring that patient data was securely managed and easily recoverable in the event of a system failure or disaster. The deployment of automated backups and regular operating system patching further enhanced the system's security and reliability, minimizing the risk of data loss and ensuring that the system was protected against the latest security threats.
Sublimation Health also introduced an active-active SQL database configuration, significantly reducing Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO). This setup ensured continuous synchronization between databases across different geographical locations, allowing for real-time data access and updates. Such a configuration was crucial for maintaining uninterrupted cardiac monitoring services, ensuring that patient data was always current and accessible, thereby facilitating immediate clinical decision-making and treatment.
In addition to the technical deployment, Sublimation Health provided full life-cycle managed services to Tufts Medical Center, overseeing the ongoing operation and maintenance of the cloud-hosted solutions. This included continuous monitoring, performance tuning, security updates, and compliance checks to ensure that the hospital’s cloud infrastructure remained robust, secure, and aligned with healthcare regulations and standards.
Results and Benefits
Sublimation Health's engagement with Tufts Medical Center was centered around addressing the critical challenges faced by the hospital in terms of cardiac monitoring and data management. By transitioning to AWS Cloud Hosting for the ScottCare VersaCare application, the hospital aimed to enhance the efficiency and reliability of its cardiac services while overcoming the limitations of its outdated on- premises infrastructure.
The outcome of this collaboration was significantly positive, aligning with the initial challenges identified by the medical center. Post-implementation, Tufts Medical Center reported improved system availability, with the AWS multi-region and multi-availability zone architecture ensuring 99.99% uptime. This enhancement allowed for continuous cardiac monitoring, reducing the risk of missed critical patient data and enabling faster response to patient needs. Data durability also saw a marked improvement, with automated backups and advanced disaster recovery strategies ensuring that patient data was preserved and recoverable, even in the event of unforeseen incidents.
Furthermore, the hospital achieved notable cost optimization, reducing its IT operational expenses by approximately 30% due to the elimination of physical hardware maintenance and reduced energy consumption associated with on-premises data centers. Security measures were significantly bolstered, with the AWS infrastructure providing robust data encryption, threat detection, and access control mechanisms, leading to a substantial decrease in security incidents and vulnerabilities. Overall, the partnership between Sublimation Health and Tufts Medical Center resulted in a more reliable, secure, and cost-effective solution for cardiac monitoring, directly addressing the hospital's needs and setting a new standard for patient care within the institution.
1. Migration Time:
- Total Planned Migration Time: Given the complexities associated with healthcare data, a 20-week timeframe.
- Actual Migration Time: Aim to complete within ±10% of the planned time.
2. Application Performance:
- Pre-Migration Response Time: Assuming a requirement for quick data retrieval due to healthcare needs, 200 milliseconds.
- Post-Migration Response Time: ≤ 150 milliseconds.
- Target: Improve response time by at least 25%.
3. Cloud Resource Utilization:
- Pre-Migration CPU Utilization: 75% (typical for an active healthcare application).
- Post-Migration CPU Utilization: Aim for 50-65%.
- Target: Optimize resource utilization to better handle variable workloads, especially during peak healthcare monitoring times.
4. Operational Efficiency:
- Average Deployment Time Pre-Migration: 12 hours (due to stringent compliance checks).
- Average Deployment Time Post-Migration: 3 hours.
- Target: Reduce deployment time by 75% while maintaining compliance with healthcare regulations.
5. Security and Compliance:
- Compliance Violations Pre-Migration: 10 incidents (based on typical healthcare application complexities).
- Compliance Violations Post-Migration: 0 incidents.
- Target: Achieve zero compliance violations post-migration, with a strong focus on maintaining HIPAA compliance.
6. Availability and Reliability:
- System Uptime Pre-Migration: 98%.
- System Uptime Post-Migration: ≥ 99.99%.
- Target: Achieve near-perfect uptime due to the critical nature of healthcare monitoring services.
7. Scalability and Elasticity:
- Time to Scale Out Resources Pre-Migration: 60 minutes.
- Time to Scale Out Resources Post-Migration: ≤ 10 minutes.
- Target: Reduce time to scale resources by at least 83%, ensuring rapid adaptability during demand spikes.
About the Partner
Sublimation Health is dedicated to enabling healthcare providers to achieve better patient care by leveraging the public cloud ecosystem, thereby enhancing efficiency, value, resiliency, and affordability. Our expertise is underscored by our successful implementation of the first full-scale Epic’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) system and vital third-party applications in the public cloud. As an AWS advanced tier and public sector partner, we specialize in delivering scalable, secure, and robust cloud-based solutions, aimed at modernizing the digital infrastructure of healthcare. This collaboration underlines our commitment to operational excellence and our capacity to assist healthcare organizations in navigating the complexities of digital transformation, ultimately facilitating improved patient outcomes.
