Feature Story

April 1, 2004

By Stacy Williams, News@Cisco

While wireless technology can increase productivity and mobility by providing anywhere access to patient histories, lab results, pharmaceutical and insurance information and medical resources, it also can pose security risks. Especially given the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 mandating increased confidentiality of patient information, securing wireless networks is a top priority.

At UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, California, a Cisco wireless network is helping to enhance patient care, while providing advanced security capabilities that safeguard patient data.

As part of a comprehensive pilot test, professional security consultants ran "sniffer" tools over a Cisco wireless network in the Medical Center's Emergency Room (ER). Installed by Cisco Gold Partner SBC, the wireless network was comprised of Cisco Aironet 1200 Series access points and Aironet 350 Series client adapter cards.

The encrypted traffic moving across the Cisco equipment was never compromised and completely met HIPAA requirements. As a result, the security consultants recommended Cisco Aironet as the most secure solution for the leading medical center.

"The security and privacy of patient information are of the utmost importance to us," says Binh Nguyen, manager of network security for UCSF. Nguyen says that the exceptional performance of Cisco authentication protocols during the pilot period was one of the key factors in UCSF's decision to adopt Cisco Aironet as the wireless platform.

Cisco has built industrial-strength security capabilities into its wireless networks to make them suitable for environments such as healthcare where protecting information is critical. Mutual authentication helps ensure that only legitimate clients associate with legitimate and authorized wireless access points. Dynamic per-user, per-session encryption keys can be set to automatically change on a regular basis to protect the privacy of transmitted data.

In addition to rigorously testing the security of the Cisco Aironet 1200 Series, another priority for UCSF was the availability of inline power, both over Ethernet and local power. Inline power in the Cisco Aironet 1200 Series allows wireless access points to be deployed throughout the facility, without having to run power to each location.

"When we looked at the big picture, the security architecture and inline power were major factors in favor of the Cisco Aironet solution," says Nguyen. "We were inclined to adopt the Cisco wireless system because we have had a long, positive experience with Cisco. The features and performance of the 1200 access point simply made our decision easier. The bottom line is, you cannot put a price tag on patient care and confidentiality. The flexibility and mobility that our staff gets from wireless translates directly toward better attention to patient needs."

The UCSF Medical Center is in the process of installing 700 Cisco Aironet 1200 Series access points at all the hospital sites, replacing the networking equipment installed by other wireless providers for the pilot. The WLAN will cover eleven floors in each of two buildings at the main campus. Users will be able to travel from one floor to another while enjoying uninterrupted wireless connectivity.

To upgrade the existing backbone, UCSF purchased more than 50 Cisco Catalyst 3550 Intelligent Ethernet switches with more than 90 Cisco Catalyst 6509 switches to provide connectivity to the access points. To reduce operational costs through centralized management of the WLAN, the Medical Center purchased a CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine.

In the initial phase of installment, wireless is being used primarily in the ER and patient rooms. Doctors and clinical staff bring laptops or PDAs when they visit patients. With wireless, they can retrieve and input patient information and then move on to the next bed without having to locate a wired PC between stops.

Hospital staff uses wireless laptops for patient admitting and registration in the ER. In the hectic moments of new arrivals into the ER, wireless lets staff stay with the patient and loved ones while gathering data instead of running to a PC. According to Nguyen, wireless saves steps and time, giving staff more freedom to move on to other patients.

Applications in use include LastWord, a medical order-entry application from IDX. A Dolphin wireless handheld device is used to place pharmaceutical orders instantly. The same handhelds are used for wireless inventory control—a staff member can scan a bin of medicines and have the total number of each item automatically recorded in the main database via the WLAN.

Currently in use internally by doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, the Cisco wireless installation at UCSF will be expanded soon to provide patients with "hot spots" for wireless access. Patients will be able to access the Internet and email loved ones before an operation and during recovery.

Stacy Williams is a freelance journalist located in Dutch John, UT.