Healthcare organizations have been working toward moving their physical patient files into an electronic health records system that would provide improved access to this information from a variety of computing devices. In fact, the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is encouraging healthcare providers to create these EHR databases across the nation so that practitioners would have the ability to access files and data from any office connected to them.
In order to make this nation-wide system a reality, the healthcare industry as a whole must establish an overarching network to connect geographically dispersed offices. According to TechTarget news director Don Fluckinger, WAN technologies are the key to creating the sector’s EHR system.
What is a WAN and how can it help healthcare organizations?
A WAN, or wide area network, is a network that connects computing devices across a geographic region like cities, states or countries, noted the Encyclopedia of Business. Often, a WAN network is utilized within an enterprise setting to provide an avenue for communications for offices in far-reaching locations, typically more than 30 miles apart.
As opposed to a LAN, or local area network, WAN users don’t own the communications lines within the network, and instead utilizes a service subscription to access the system. A WAN can be established in a point-to-point setup, or a packet-switched network configuration. The former includes a direct connection line between two separate locations, and the latter involves transmitting packets of data across shared circuits.
Within a healthcare setting, WANs can be created to connect separate institutions on a single campus, or those across the country from one another.
“WANs in healthcare specifically mean physician practices and affiliates spread out more geographically,” said Matt Rozhon, carrier service specialist in CDW LLC’s healthcare division. “Or, if we are talking about a healthcare provider, they may be generally all local.”
WAN network for the healthcare industry
In order for practitioners across the healthcare industry to have access to other’s EHR files via an online system, an overarching WAN must be established to allow for the transmission and sharing of this content.
Rozhon noted that during the process of establishing a cross-country WAN for the healthcare industry, one of the main focuses will be on increasing WAN bandwidth to ensure that the network is always available.
“One of the biggest drivers I see is not just EHRs, but big bandwidth,” Rozhon said. “These radiology, cardiology, MRI files are extraordinary large. If you’re doing them a couple hundred times a day throughout your organization, it’s going to require a large amount of bandwidth.”