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Malcom Randall VA Medical Center Installs Welch Allyn Wireless Monitors to Secure Patient Data Encryption Across Hospital Networks

Welch Allyn recently completed a Connex® Electronic Vitals Documentation System (EVDS) installation at the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, FL, which includes patient data encryption across the hospitals’ wireless networks.

Tue May 28 2013By Welch Allyn

Welch Allyn, a leading medical diagnostic device company that focuses on helping clinicians improve patient outcomes, recently completed a Connex Electronic Vitals Documentation System (EVDS) installation at the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, FL, which includes patient data encryption across the hospitals’ wireless networks. As part of the installation, the facility recently purchased and deployed 75 Connex Vital Signs Monitor (VSM) 6500 Series devices to reduce staff time spent documenting vitals and eliminate transcription errors while maintaining confidence that patient data is secure.  The facility will deploy another 225 devices by the end of the year.  The integrated radio in the devices is Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (*Certificate #1747) which is required for wireless deployment within U.S. federal government agencies under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

“These facilities were eager to incorporate the Welch Allyn Connex VSM into their EMR systems and wireless networks,” said Bill Quatier, solution architect at Welch Allyn. “The FIPS validation of the radio in our Connex VSM devices demonstrates our continued commitment to meeting the needs of security-conscious healthcare organizations and enables U.S. federal government facilities to buy with confidence knowing these Welch Allyn devices meet their computing policy requirements for protecting sensitive patient information.”

Welch Allyn Connex VSM devices were the first vital signs monitors authorized for wireless deployment within the U.S. federal government healthcare agencies.  The integrated Welch Allyn radio in the devices was designed specifically for the medical market and operates on hospitals’ existing wireless systems using 802.11 a/b/g technology. No additional WLAN controllers or servers are required for a Welch Allyn wireless installation. Using this radio, the device safely and securely transmits vital signs data to an electronic medical record (EMR) through the company’s Connex Vitals Management Software—eliminating the need for clinicians to manually input data.

“The integrated radio in our Connex VSM devices uniquely meets the demands of clinical staff on the frontlines since it was designed specifically for low-acuity areas, like med/surg floors,” added Quatier.  “The wireless coverage in these areas may be less robust than traditional monitoring locales, like telemetry units, and this radio is optimized to work seamlessly in these areas to improve clinician workflow and reduce errors.  It also provides the highest level of authentication and encryption available for commercial 802.11 networks and FIPS validation adds additional peace of mind that the data will not be breached or compromised.”


 

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