Epic dominates healthcare in the United States, holding records for over 300 million patients at 60% of hospitals. With a 200-bed minimum requirement for Epic, smaller providers often merge or form affiliations with larger institutions to share costs. Since these affiliates often lack IT resources, parent institutions extend IT support—but that’s where the real pain begins.
Deploying Epic means replacing outdated clinical workstations and point-of-care hardware. As the parent healthcare institution (HCO) plans, acquires, and deploys hardware, a lot of resources will move in and out. If your team relies on spreadsheets, answering the capital committee's questions can be a nightmare:
Setting up Haiku, Canto, and Rover across affiliates? Ensuring Imprivata, PACS, and BCMA work seamlessly with Epic? You’ll need all devices registered in the EHR. Now, imagine pulling that data manually—device by device, OS by OS, across workstations, phones, and iPads. Multiply that across dozens of affiliates. Fun, right? An automated device management solution capable of pulling this data from every managed device would be invaluable in this scenario.
Every affiliate runs its own configurations and healthcare apps, making security messy. When parent HCOs replace outdated devices with fully provisioned workstations, the director of IT and app services will need to define app needs by role: finance, nursing, radiology, and more. They should create a centralized OS image with IT policies, security, and compliance baked in. Persona-based groups ensure each department gets only what they need. Once packaged, the OS and apps can be pushed across affiliates, keeping everything uniform.
What if an affiliate goes bankrupt? What if they disappear and never return their devices? Do you have UEM installed to wipe PHI remotely? An IT director should ensure that all devices are enrolled in a UEM solution with remote wipe capabilities and clear policies are in place for handling devices when contracts end.
Smaller hospitals often lack IT teams, and contract physicians don’t want full IT control over their devices. That's where HIPAA-compliant remote control helps.
Some UEM tools require explicit physician consent before IT can access their screens. IT first gets a restricted view, guiding physicians to close sensitive windows before granting full access. This safeguard keeps sensitive PHI secure.
"96% of hospitals are running end-of-life OSs or software with known vulnerabilities." –HHS Hospital Resiliency Landscape Analysis
Some small hospitals still have surgical rooms with mini PCs tied to imaging systems. These small, fanless devices don’t interfere with other equipment or stir up dust, perfect for maintaining a sterile environment. However, they run Windows LTSC from 30 years ago and can’t be replaced without replacing the modality. Getting visibility into these devices and patching against exploited vulnerabilities is critical.
These are some scenarios where a solution like Endpoint Central can offer comprehensive visibility and management of IT hardware and software assets, leveraging its integrated ITAM and endpoint management capabilities. Explore how healthcare organizations have addressed similar challenges during mergers and acquisitions.