Head in the Clouds: How a Health Care Organization Drove Cloud Migration in 5 Days to Support Remote Work

Digital health care initiatives around telehealth, virtualization, and digital engagement were “optional” in the beginning of 2020. Only a few months later when the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the health care industry, health organizations had to quickly adapt as restraints were put on space, supplies and staff, and essential elements in the health care field. Between March 1 and June 30, hospitals and health systems lost an estimated $202.6 billion as a result of forgone revenue and increased COVID-19-related costs. To combat this loss, health care systems needed to quickly invest in digital efforts, specifically for contactless, touchless health care solutions. 

One of many health care organizations affected over the last year includes The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI), an organization that administers quality data to health professionals, the community, researchers, and decision-makers within the health care field. Through collaboration with the health system, NLCHI is helping build a smarter, more connected health care system by developing data and technical standards, maintaining key health databases, and supporting health research. Hospital information systems, electronic health record systems, and electronic medical record programs are all solutions NLCHI’s provides to their 20,000 health care workers. These solutions must be kept in top shape to ensure authorized health care providers can correctly do their job, including securely accessing essential patient data or digitizing electronic medical records across clinician offices. 

In the beginning of 2020, roughly 20% of NLCHI’s health care workers utilized VPN connections and corporate laptops to work remotely. During this time, most of NLCHI’s infrastructure were located on-premises, although, NLCHI had recently established a single Microsoft 365 tenant for itself and the four RHAs, or regional health authorities.

In early March 2020, when the province confirmed its first cases of COVID-19, NLCHI had to respond quickly to keep health care services running. At the same time, it had to configure new COVID-19 intensive-care unit (ICU) wings and deploy solutions in long-term care facilities (NLCHI provided 500 iPads and various apps to help patients connect with family and health providers).  

 “Case counts and admissions accelerated overnight. It was a critical situation and we needed to enable remote work for as many workers as possible; staff responsible for acquiring personal protection equipment are just as essential as ICU physicians and nurses to keep services running,” cited Robert Drover, Director of NLCHI.

Moving to Remote Work and the Cloud

NLCHI reached out to Microsoft and Nerdio for their support to drive digital migration. NLCHI and Microsoft agreed on the value of implementing Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD). In just five days, NLCHI deployed Windows Virtual Desktop to 1700 health care workers, who connect to their Windows desktops and apps with their own devices. Using Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session, the organization saves computer costs by enabling 32 users to connect to a session host instead of just two.

On top of this, NLCHI implemented Nerdio Manager for WVD—a solution that supports the automation, management, optimization, and security of Windows Virtual Desktop deployments. NLCHI also leveraged the auto-scaling capabilities of Nerdio Manager for WVD to handle the organization’s fluctuating server needs. With these new solutions, NLCHI is now able to connect 32 users to one session host, all while getting the equal performance and full desktop experience as two users per CPU. 

Flexibility, Security, and a New Direction for IT

NLCHI sees virtualization as an opportunity to rethink how it procures and delivers devices—and provides a desktop experience for workers. The key benefits NLCHI gleaned from their partnership with Microsoft and Nerdio includes:

• Flexibility: As it has for NLCHI, the continued initiative to migrate to digital solutions is prominent and necessary for health care organizations, especially as the need for IT services continues to grow. Not only does the organization benefit from the flexibility it gains around devices, but health care organizations will not have to go through the tedious, manual processes to secure workers’ computers with encrypted drives and security updates. 
• Virtualization: Health care organizations need to rethink virtualization as an opportunity to reassess their own procurement and deployment of devices and their employee’s desktop experience. Virtual solutions can enable organizations to focus more on identity management and security, rather than tedious, manual processes, like supplying new computers or logins for each employee. 
• Performance: Migrating to remote desktop environments can highlight intrinsic benefits to make the organization more effective, efficient, and responsive in times of need. When it comes to performance and flexibility, a perfect fit includes employees using their own devices to access internal resources while the organization upholds security principles.  

In the beginning of 2020, no one could have expected the monumental changes that took place within the health care industry. As with COVID-19, international emergencies are not predictable and health care organizations ensure they are prepared to handle critical and unexpected situations. From enabling remote work to deploying servers to autoscaling Windows Virtual Desktops, digital migration within the health care industry is vital for health organizations moving forward.

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