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CASE STUDY:
VPN for Patient Accounts Program
Objective
Provide a virtual private network (VPN) connection to hospital
client site so that PNI staff could access patient accounts system
and provide remote business office management and claims processing.
Scope
A
staff of five PNI patient account managers providing expert account
management for a problem portion of a hospital client's accounts
receivable.
Methodology
- Identify
client security concerns and address
- Provide
detailed information on VPN setup to CIO
- Work
with client IT staff to integrate VPN solution with existing
network infrastructure
- Contact
ISP to arrange DSL access to client site
- Setup
Internet access and routers
- Setup
and test VPN connection between client hospital and PNI
- Connect
to patient account system via VPN over the public Internet
Results
- Dramatic
reduction in costs by replacing dial-up connections
- Cost
savings passed on to client
- Improved
security using VPN with a firewall rather than dial-up access
without a firewall
- Improved
connectivity for PNI staff over dial-up leads to significant
increase in productivity
- Patient
accounts receivable days reduced significantly with corresponding
improvement in cash flow for client