Data Center

Updating Backup and Storage Systems to Prepare for Healthcare’s Future

Infrastructure modernization projects meet today’s needs and lay groundwork for newer technologies and processes.

Tommy Peterson is a freelance journalist who specializes in business and technology and is a frequent contributor to the CDW family of technology magazines.

From advances in virtual care to artificial intelligence-supported clinical decision-making, healthcare continues to see emerging technologies transform the industry. But for provider organizations that often rely on legacy systems, it’s a challenge to manage older equipment with expectations aligned to newer solutions.

Since rip-and-replace projects involving the entire infrastructure are prohibitively expensive and exceedingly rare, the journey toward modernization should start with a thorough assessment of the strengths and weakness of a healthcare organization’s existing technology, says IDC Senior Research Director Mutaz Shegewi. Then, tackle an upgrade of the weakest link first, he says.

The gains from modernization don’t come easily. Upgrading any major portion of the infrastructure requires a clear articulation of goals, engagement with all stakeholders, careful evaluation of potential technology purchases, and, crucially, a plan for risk management during the deployment, Shegewi says.

“In healthcare especially, these projects always involve a balancing act between progress toward the goal and ensuring minimal disruption of critical functions, especially those that touch patient care,” he adds.

Bolstered security is often a major goal of IT infrastructure modernization, Shegewi says: “In addition to the risks of malware attacks, healthcare deals with strict privacy and security compliance regulations that can be met more easily by upgraded technologies.”

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Nuvance Health Protects and Prepares with New Backup Solutions

In previous years, Danbury, Conn.-based Nuvance Health was satisfied with a backup solution that met the existing needs of its Microsoft Office 365 environment and its crucial applications running on VMware virtual machines. But with the evolving threat of ransomware and the need to lay a stronger foundation for the future, the health system moved to a Rubrik backup and recovery platform in 2023, says CTO Rob Gilliland.

“Rubrik gave us the exact tool set and ease of management that we needed. It also gives us an easy path to move to a cloud-based solution, which is where we believe the technology is going,” he says.

With seven community hospitals, specialized care centers and more than 250 primary care sites in New York’s Hudson Valley and western Connecticut, Nuvance Health must manage and protect data generated from complex sources and stored in multiple redundant data centers.

“We needed a solution with management features that showed us exactly which of our systems were affected should we be attacked and that could then quickly restore data from any of our systems because that’s crucial to our patients and our operation,” Gilliland says.

Hardened security was a driver of the upgraded backup system, but the deployment offered many benefits. Since its implementation, the Rubrik platform has provided substantially improved turnaround times for backups and faster rates of restore, he says, and a dashboard presents granular views across the network, which are essential for prompt data restoration.

“Being able to bring our systems up in a quick and orderly fashion, no matter what happens, is paramount in enabling our clinicians to provide the care our patients need 24/7,” Gilliland says.

Nuvance Health’s approach to backups has to accommodate existing needs and plans for growth and modernization, Gilliland adds. The organization will soon expand its current on-premises Rubrik solution to take advantage of the vendor’s cloud-based technology.

“As our infrastructure ages, we have to look at where the IT industry is going, and that’s toward the cloud,” he says. “Moving toward the cloud will give us the most and best options to protect and manage our data. Clinicians don’t want or need to know how we do it; they just want to be sure that when contingencies arise, we can get them the data they need for their patients.”

Moving toward the cloud will give us the most and best options to protect and manage our data.”

Rob Gilliland CTO, Nuvance Health

St. Joseph’s Health Finds Space to Grow with Modernized Storage

In northern New Jersey, St. Joseph’s Health forecasted its impending needs and replaced its aging storage infrastructure five years ago with a Pure Storage solution to improve the performance of clinical and business applications, says Jesse Fasolo, the organization’s technology infrastructure and cybersecurity director and information security officer.

“We did a proof of concept and then expanded the platform’s use across multiple data centers,” he says. “Since then, we’ve upgraded our storage capacity twice through Pure Storage’s Evergreen program, which allows you to invest in the technology as your needs grow. You can do an in-place upgrade with no downtime or impact to the organization.”

Regular system software upgrades through the Evergreen program have also significantly improved application performance, including its Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Fasolo says: “We feel as though we can always be at the leading edge of technology, even though our initial investment was five years ago.”

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A Veeam backup platform provides fortified defenses against ransomware attacks, Fasolo adds. The integration enables lightning-fast recovery times from Veeam’s secured snapshots. “If we were attacked, we could very quickly restore a snapshot from minutes before,” he says.

The Pure Storage platform includes self-monitoring and correcting features, along with a management portal that provides detailed visibility into the performance of the storage system and connected applications, Fasolo says.

“It makes the storage system nearly self-sustaining as it identifies issues and helps you solve them,” he says. “This almost eliminates the need to have a storage specialist on the IT team, which can save money or free up a position for other tasks.”

Because of its central function on the back end, integrating the Rubrik platform with all existing systems was a crucial consideration in purchase and deployment, Fasolo says. “All systems function from the storage array, and with a storage solution that meshes with them, we’ve seen efficiency and performance gains on all sides.”

With a future proofed storage system in place, St. Joseph’s Health is looking ahead to upgrades of the compute infrastructure, he says.

95%

The percentage of ransomware attacks in healthcare in which attackers attempted to compromise backup systems

Source: Sophos, The State of Ransomware 2024, April 2024

Keys to Successful Infrastructure Upgrades

Unsurprisingly, careful planning that involves all stakeholders is the bedrock of successful infrastructure upgrades, says Shegewi. Here’s what he and other healthcare IT leaders had to say:

Be sure you’ll have what you need. Modernization projects often sink because organizations haven’t accurately judged the resources needed for a successful upgrade, and then fall short of staffing, expertise, money or time, says Gilliland. “You need enough people with the right skills, as well as a budget and schedule that covers all contingencies,” he says. “It’s easy to overlook issues like the need to maintain two systems during the crossover to the new technology.”

Take your time. Fasolo advocates for a measured but steady approach to infrastructure modernization. “Digital transformation doesn’t need to be all at once,” he says. “Make a three-year roadmap and assess progress as you go along.”

Fasolo specifically warns against being in too much of a hurry to move infrastructure and applications to the cloud. “You have to understand your unique circumstances, like the fact that images run better locally and clinicians depend on images,” he says. “Often, an integrated cloud and on-premises infrastructure is the most cost-efficient and high-performance solution.”

Integrate and secure. A key criterion for selecting a new technology should be how well it meshes with the organization’s current technology and its future digital transformation plans, Shegewi says. “Make sure you’re not creating another silo that you’ll work around or break down later.”

He also cautions against becoming distracted and neglecting security measures during the deployment of upgraded technology, a process that can expose a greater attack surface area. And don’t forget the human element: Pay attention to change management, communicate and provide needed staff training, he adds.

Harry Campbell/The Ispot