Supporting West Central Indiana, Hendricks Regional Health and its 2,500 associates serve the community as a nationally recognized, nonprofit healthcare organization. With 18 locations across 7 towns, the hospital system’s immediate care, ER and clinics rely on instant access to critical systems and information: 24/7/365. Any delay accessing medical software, electronic medical records (EMRs) or voice services could result in the lapse of necessary care that Hendricks patients require.
Hendricks experienced significant expansion over the past decade, ultimately adding nearly 1,000 employees. The hospital system required a network provider to deliver high-capacity, low-latency connectivity with the capacity to scale as its networks’ needs continued to increase.
Dependable, Robust Network Solution
Hendricks rolled out a new mission statement in 2021: Dedicated to Exceptional Healthcare.
In theory, every healthcare provider understands the transformative power of properly implemented technology. In practice, deploying new technologies to improve patient care can be complex and difficult. Hendricks desire to improve patient experience while making processes more efficient and effective led the hospital system to embrace leading technologies, such as automation. “Implementing automation, while still excelling in patient care, is what drives our decisions,” states Abby Butts, Assistant Director of Information Systems. At the core of all these initiatives is a strong network able to handle the bandwidth demands of today, while standing ready to scale as technology demands it.
Hendricks Regional Health partnered with Everstream to build a highly reliable network capable of supporting robust healthcare applications and increased VoIP demands. Through a combination of dark fiber, ethernet and voice, Hendricks benefits from high-speed, low-latency, private and secure connections to multiple locations throughout its hospital infrastructure.
By leasing dark fiber from Everstream, Hendricks has access to unlimited bandwidth, complete control of traffic between locations and the ultimate in reliability. This build-to-suit solution connects 8 Hendricks buildings and one data center, establishing robust connectivity to key locations, and the scalability to support future growth and emerging technologies.
The Hendricks network is architected for redundancy with connections to 5 family medical and wellness centers and to 4 data center locations via Everstream’s point-to-multipoint ethernet WAN solution, providing Hendricks 24/7 network monitoring and support – and the ability to operate as usual if unforeseen fiber damage should occur.
The importance of this is crucial, as Todd Davis, Chief Information Officer goes on to say, “The role that services and technology have in serving our patients are both essential and critical. Everything ties back to our software, EMR and phone services. Any disruptions would send our IT team into incident command mode. We have found a solution that helps us prevent this so we can focus every day on supporting our frontline teams.”
| SERVICES PROVIDED | CHALLENGES | OUTCOMES |
| Wide Area Network | Unreliable connections | High capacity |
| Dark Fiber | Lack of scalability | Diverse connections |
| Voice |
Prepared for Change
Patient expectations have quickly evolved over the last few years, undoubtably driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. As virtual care opportunities continue to grow, Hendricks has found the scalability of Everstream’s solutions to be a critical component of the patient care formula.
“Planning for the future is an essential aspect of healthcare,” Davis said. “We know that more bandwidth will be needed over the next five years and it’s great to know we have the support when that time comes.”
Everstream engineered a scalable voice solution that consolidated the Hendricks voice services to a singular platform, streamlining patient experience by eliminating the need for a patient to dial multiple phone numbers to address a single inquiry. “Having strong voice services is essential to Hendricks. We now have the capability to transfer patients seamlessly throughout our network during a single phone call,” stated Butts.
A Partnership Built for Success
Just as Hendricks delivers exceptional service to its patients; the hospital system needed a partner that is committed to providing exceptional service too.
Previously with another provider, Hendricks described the migration to Everstream as “an easy transition” and from day one “has been forward thinking, transparent and attentive.”
“We don’t feel like an afterthought like we had been,” Davis said. “We’re very satisfied with the customer service. It feels more like a partnership and not a sales and client relationship. You don’t always get that with other providers.”
Through Everstream’s unique network architecture and resilient fiber network, Hendricks has reliable, high-speed access to medical software, EMRs and voice services that its physicians, employees and patients depend on.
With healthcare being a relationship-driven industry, “It’s crucial for anyone we partner with to understand that we’re a hospital and time is critical and Everstream respects that and takes it as word,” Davis emphasized. “The level of attention and consistency we get from Everstream directly protects our reputation as a medical provider.”
With a fiber network designed to fit its needs, Hendricks Regional Health is equipped to see its vision come to fruition and be the indispensable healthcare provider to all 300,000 patients, physicians and associates the hospital system serves.