The client is a very large healthcare system in the Northeast United States, treating more than 3 million patients annually across over 300 locations. Following a major organizational merger, it acquired a major regional hospital that is a level 1 trauma center and one of America's best comprehensive cancer treatment centers. Like other American healthcare systems, the organization was also looking ahead to further merger opportunities, so any technology decision had to scale to new facility locations.

When the healthcare system acquired the regional hospital, it quickly concluded that it needed to evaluate and consolidate its voice and data services into a single, efficient, IP-based telephony platform. It needed to securely improve efficiencies, meet regulatory compliance demands and achieve strict cost-cutting goals.

U.S. healthcare providers are under enormous market and regulatory pressure to reduce costs, streamline operations and improve patient outcomes, which drives mergers like this one. But mergers also bring the daunting task of combining disparate technology infrastructures, systems and methodologies, which can lead to increased short-term costs, unplanned redundancies and workflow breakdowns.

HIPAA compliance added another stringent requirement, demanding rigorous data security and safeguards to protect patient privacy. Few VoIP providers in the U.S. market offer end-to-end HIPAA compliance, and the organization wanted to avoid the cost overhead of building its own HIPAA-compliant security layer on top of an inferior VoIP platform. It was also looking ahead to further mergers, so any solution had to offer robust scalability and maintenance when extended to new facility locations.

After carefully evaluating the options in the marketplace, the healthcare system concluded that Vocal IP was the only provider that delivered the robust security, scalability, maintenance options and custom integration abilities it needed.

Security was the main standout. Vocal IP was originally founded as a security-focused managed service provider and provides full end-to-end strong encryption of voice traffic for customers with regulatory compliance needs. Its VoIP infrastructure is housed in a secure, fully redundant data center infrastructure with 24/7 NOC-based monitoring and support. Leveraging that platform, the organization integrated its telecom and IP networking services across more than 300 provider locations.

The customer was also pleasantly surprised by how easily it could maintain the new telephony and data network platform. Through Vocal IP's custom online maintenance portal, staff manage voice services, handle MACD (moves, adds, changes and disconnects), transcribe recorded media in a HIPAA-compliant context, and insert recorded voice conversations into hospital management systems. Vocal IP also built custom integrations with the organization's existing and legacy applications, which greatly simplified the job of consolidating a wide range of disparate technologies.

• Telecom and IP networking services integrated across more than 300 provider locations
• End-to-end encrypted, HIPAA-compliant VoIP without building a separate security layer
• Organization passed its own internal HIPAA security audit after implementing Vocal IP
• Voice services, MACD and HIPAA-compliant transcription managed in-house through Vocal IP's online portal
• Services extended to additional facilities, laboratories and offices after further mergers