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 Clinic's Network Keeps Patients Safe And Sound To access a gif file of the Centerfold graphic, click here. It may take some time to load in your browser! 
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By Mona R. Litt Welborn Clinic works hard to keep its company network--and its patients--free of viruses. People receive quality medical care from the clinic's seven satel lite clinics, six pharmacies and 35,000-member HMO--all connected by its enterprise network. "Our greatest challenge is patient confidentiality," explains Jeff Gorman, Welborn's network administrator. "We have to provide customized support [for our employees and doctors], but we need common technologies to facilitate better perf ormance on the job." Welborn Clinic , headquartered in Evansville, Ind., secures its network of 400 users by providing system access through login and passwords. Data traffic also must pass through Cisco Systems' encryption software, native to the Cisco 4500 series routers. Gorman expresses great concern that an intranet will bring more security issues to the surface. He is heading an investigation into more stringent security measures, such as token-based security. Gorman says he anticipates adding fractional T1 to the 56Kbps and T1 WAN within the next month to support Welborn's expanding intranet. Employees will be able to obtain updated manuals and other materials over the intranet. Welborn is using Novell Web Server to build its intranet. The company soon will provide PCs in common areas for employees to conduct patient and other research. Approximately 60 percent of all staffers use PCs, while 40 percent work on terminals. The clinic annually replaces 75 terminals with PCs, and is moving toward a 100 percent PC environment. PC users gain access to host data through Dynamic Solutions International's terminal emulator. Employees with Unisys terminals access the Unisys mainframe through a Connect 1 front-end processor. "Our goal is to keep information available to people on the road," Gorman reports. Remote users can access applications easily through Novell's NetWare Connect, which links to a Windows NT Server running Citrix Systems' WinFrame. Employees will soon migrate to Novell GroupWise 5 from WordPerfect Office for e-mail and appointment scheduling. Welborn staffers use Experior Corp.'s Interactive Cl inic Management System software to customize databases and manage clinic data. The Unisys A16 Model 31L mainframe stores transcriptions as well as scheduling, pharmacy information and health-plan member details, according to Gorman. Patient prescriptions, symptoms and other details are transcribed into patients' medical files with the MedScribe custom s oftware. Novell ManageWise handles server and PC management. 3Com Corp.'s Transcend Enterprise Manager tracks all activity on the 3Com LinkSwitch 1000 and 3000 switches and 3Com SuperStack II NETBuilder 221 boundary routers. Welborn also uses Network Integrity's LANtegrity as enterprise backup software for the servers in the downtown clinics, Gorman says. |
Updated May 23, 1997 |
