Maccabi Healthcare Services

Healthcare Provider Enhances Information Efficiency and Security

Managing thousands of doctors and providing healthcare to more than 1,750,000 patients throughout Israel, Maccabi Healthcare Services wanted to improve its existing IT systems to provide better information services, upgrade workstation performance, make IT support more efficient, save energy, and enhance information security. Using specialized deployment tools, Maccabi updated 5,000 personal computers to the Windows Vista® Business operating system. Using Windows Vista, Maccabi improved employee efficiency, enhanced its ability to safeguard information, made system management and maintenance easier, and reduced costs. Now care givers, administrative personnel, and IT managers can focus on helping Maccabi provide modern and innovative medical treatment and healthcare services for an ever-increasing number of patients.

 

Situation

Providing healthcare services throughout Israel, Maccabi Healthcare Services offers modern and innovative medical treatment to more than 1,750,000 patients at 200 facilities, including the hospitals Assuta and Ramat Marpeh. Thousands of independent and salaried physicians provide services to Maccabi members. The healthcare provider manages approximately 5,000 in-house workstations.

We recognized that with Windows Vista we could provide answers to the challenges we defined, while achieving full compatibility between systems and seamless integration with other projects. Shay Peled Director, Personal Computing Div, Information and Teleprocessing Systems Department, Maccabi Healthcare Services

Maccabi has always relied on information technology to help it provide the highest quality service possible to its members, and the company has been a healthcare industry leader in adopting advanced computing technologies. To meet continuously improving care standards for an increasing number of patients, Maccabi has to maintain an information environment that provides advanced services while meeting the highest standards of information security.

At Maccabi, the Information and Teleprocessing Systems Department manages IT systems that include more than 5,000 personal computers. The company wanted to enhance the tools it used to safeguard confidential business and medical information. Although authorized users could access encoded information with a general name and password for the domain, Maccabi wanted to create user-specific access.

Maccabi was concerned that a user could potentially connect a USB device to a company computer, copy information, and remove it from the company. Maccabi wanted to give the IT department more control over the workstations, especially the ability to lock out unauthorized connections and other forms of information transfer.

“We cannot allow a situation where confidential information is risked or threatened in any way, and with 5,000 workstations, any crack in the information security ramparts is significant,” says Shay Peled, Director of the Personal Computing Division of the Information and Teleprocessing Systems Department at Maccabi Healthcare Services. “We needed a system that would provide specific permissions for each user and improve the level of information security at every station.”

The fast rate of growth at Maccabi made it challenging for the IT department—despite its high-caliber work—to meet the requirement for full-time system availability and still provide efficient workstation support. With an already overloaded IT support team, Maccabi needed to deliver consistently high workstation performance more effectively, without expanding human resources. “Providing better service to employees naturally generates better customer service,” says Peled. “We wanted to provide our employees with a reliable, available, and more user-friendly computing environment.”

Computer performance sometimes compromised employee efficiency—some workstations provided only slow or inconvenient access to information on the computer and the network. During service calls with customers, the time required for pulling the information from the CRM system exceeded target times and screens did not always operate optimally. “Maccabi’s service standards require data to appear immediately and be intuitively actionable,” says Peled. “It was essential for us to accelerate these steps.”

The company also saw an opportunity to significantly reduce costs and conserve energy by better managing the thousands of computers and monitors that operated even when no employees were present. With more central control over when and in what modes workstations were running, Maccabi could reduce power consumption. Maccabi wanted to enhance several aspects of its existing information systems to provide better service for staff, upgrade the performance of all workstations, make IT support more efficient, save energy, and enhance information security.

Solution

Since 2003, the Information and Teleprocessing Systems Department at Maccabi Healthcare Services has managed a comprehensive information environment—from personal computers to servers—based on a uniform standard of Microsoft® technology solutions. The strategic relationship with Microsoft creates opportunities for Maccabi to significantly improve management efficiency and find solutions for new challenges.

The entire update occurred over the network. We send an e-mail, the user opens the message, and the computer installs Windows Vista on the computer with the uniform Maccabi image. The IT people did it without leaving their desks. Shay Peled Director, Personal Computing Div, Information and Teleprocessing Systems Department, Maccabi Healthcare Services

After examining its requirements, Maccabi worked with Microsoft Gold Partner Calanit Carmon to update its personal computers to the Windows Vista® Business operating system. “We recognized that with Windows Vista we could provide answers to the challenges we defined, while achieving full compatibility between systems and seamless integration with other projects,” says Peled.

Still, upgrading an operating system in over 5,000 computers is no small task. In May 2007, Maccabi began the Windows Vista deployment by working with Calanit Carmon to test the existing applications and infrastructure for compatibility. The company used the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), which included a complete mapping of existing systems, to identify software and hardware conflicts and generate evaluations of what to upgrade and how much to upgrade. Maccabi collaborated with other vendors to verify that third-party applications were compatible with Windows Vista.

In previous operating system updates, Maccabi had relied solely on an outside company to carry out the deployment. This time, the company implemented the update to Windows Vista with the complete involvement of its internal IT team. By studying and participating in the procedure in-house, Maccabi could ensure that both users and support people were well trained in the new technology, helping to ensure smooth adoption and positive outcomes.

After working for six months to ensure hardware and software compatibility, and the successful completion of a pilot update, Maccabi deployed Windows Vista with few challenges. The IT department used the MDT to prepare a single, uniform image for all the computers and distributed the image to individual computers remotely, without requiring technicians to manually install the software on each of the company’s 5,000 workstations. “The entire update occurred over the network,” says Peled. “We send an e-mail, the user opens the message, and the computer installs Windows Vista on the computer with the uniform Maccabi image. The IT people did it without leaving their desks.”

Because Maccabi deployed Windows Vista using one single image that is adapted to different environments, technicians can install the image with a single medium, which simplifies system management and maintenance.

Benefits

When Maccabi Healthcare Services updated its personal computers to Windows Vista, it developed a comprehensive solution to a complex set of challenges. By increasing system speed and reliability, Maccabi improved the quality of information services and improved employee efficiency. Using the security features in Windows Vista, the company enhanced its ability to safeguard information. Now IT can provide more efficient support without an increase in human resources and is generating other economic savings by controlling power consumption.

With all its personal computers running Windows Vista, Maccabi has made work easier for care givers, administrative personnel, and IT managers, helping the organization meet a continually improving standard of service for an increasing number of patients.

Improved Service

With Windows Vista, the systems run faster and individual computers perform better, so employees can provide Maccabi customers with better service. “Information comes up immediately and the service providers can work with it intuitively,” says Peled. “With Windows Vista, customers no longer experience delays in the conversation because of computer performance.”

Increased Employee Efficiency

Using Windows Vista, Maccabi employees can find information efficiently with the natural language search. With the Search box in the main menu and every window of the operating system, users can search text documents, faxes, and e-mails, with results displayed immediately and conveniently. Because Maccabi provided full training in Windows Vista, employees can get the full benefit of the new functions. “With the built-in search function, users have reduced the time it takes to find mail items and documents,” says Peled. “And with the training we provided, employees are achieving great depth of usage of the new functions in Windows Vista.”

The computer is an essential work tool for Maccabi employees and it is critical for it to be available at all times. By deploying Windows Vista, Maccabi has improved the availability and reliability of computers and applications. By using the operating system’s self back-up mechanism, the system is automatically repaired in the event of errors or faults. Now employees can work at all times.

Information comes up immediately and the service providers can work with it intuitively. With Windows Vista, customers no longer experience delays in the conversation because of computer performance. Shay Peled Director, Personal Computing Div, Information and Teleprocessing Systems Department, Maccabi Healthcare Services

More Efficient Support

The IT department at Maccabi can now provide better support for users without increasing human resources for IT support. Because Maccabi used the MDT to prepare and install a uniform image for all computers, it is much simpler to manage and maintain the system. Automatic Windows Vista alerts inform IT immediately about faults and errors, which means that technicians can repair computers with minimal delays. “When IT gets an alert about a problem on a hard disk, someone on the team can phone the branch manager to say that a technician will arrive to fix the computer, even before the problem has been noticed,” says Peled.

Enhanced Information Protection

Maccabi has increased the level of information security it can provide by using the advanced security features in Windows Vista. By using Windows® BitLocker™ Drive Encryption technology in Windows Vista, Maccabi can encode information on the system to prevent hackers from seeing information on the computer without the right code, and also safeguard information if a portable computer is lost or stolen. Maccabi uses Group Policy settings to grant access permissions at the user level, significantly decreasing the risk that confidential information will be exposed.

Reduced Costs

Maccabi also uses Group Policy settings to control users’ power consumption: “We can define that from 7:00 p.m. onwards, specific screens and computers will turn off if they are not being used,” says Peled. “When we can implement this on thousands of computers used throughout the organization, it results in big savings.”

By creating images remotely, Maccabi optimized its infrastructure and reduced costs. The company no longer has to rely on third-party software to perform tasks that it can now accomplish with structured solutions built into the new system. “In the past we had to use third-party products, which, of course, cost money,” says Peled. “With the features built into Windows Vista, we built a comprehensive solution in one system.”

Windows Vista

Windows Vista can help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to find and use information more effectively. You will be able to support your mobile work force with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies to enhance corporate IT security, data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.

For more information about Windows Vista, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsvista  

 

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Calanit Carmon products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.calcom.co.il

For more information about Maccabi Healthcare Services products and services, call or visit the Web site at:
www.maccabi-health.co.il