AWS Case Study: CloudPrime

CloudPrime’s messaging service is based upon a network of software applications called Connectors that are installed at the end-user’s location. The Connectors are responsible for encrypting messages, which are then sent to routers within the resizable computing environment of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). The Amazon EC2-based routers then forward the encrypted messages to the recipients.

To ensure the security of the messaging service, CloudPrime states that it has instituted multiple layers of protection inside its technology and has enacted meticulous security policies throughout its network. CloudPrime states that it meets the standards necessary for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) compliance. Amazon EC2 is also HIPAA compliant.

One of CloudPrime’s key clients is the Wound Center, which operates wound treatment centers in over thirty Acute Care Hospitals in the United States. Although the Wound Center’s services are performed within traditional hospital settings, the centers are managed from the Wound Center’s headquarters.

As the Wound Center expanded into new locations, it faced the challenge of properly transferring a growing amount of patient and billing data between the individual treatment centers and the corporate offices. In response to this challenge, the Wound Center explored its options with a health care application integration specialist and ultimately chose CloudPrime as its messaging service provider.

CloudPrime created a health information exchange for the Wound Center that allows the medical company to transfer its patient and billing files safely between all of its locations. CloudPrime also provides the Wound Center with a Customer Portal that allows the Wound Center employees to manage and analyze the messages in the system. When the Wound Center opens a new treatment center in an additional hospital, CloudPrime is able to connect the new center to the Wound Center messaging network in approximately fifteen minutes due to the small install set size and simple installation process of the Connector application.

Beyond the reassuring knowledge that CloudPrime and Amazon EC2 meet the privacy and security regulations of the medical industry, the Wound Center is also experiencing considerable cost savings. The medical company is able to avoid the personnel expenses and data transfer fees associated with traditional messaging systems. The Wound Center estimates that CloudPrime’s messaging service provides the company with $433,000 in savings every year. Additionally, CloudPrime’s guaranteed delivery of all messages allows the Wound Center’s employees to concentrate their efforts on their core duties, rather than looking for errant files.

Choosing a messaging system is a crucial decision for any enterprise, but particularly so for enterprises within regulated industries like the medical field. The Wound Center is benefiting from its relationship with CloudPrime because of the security upon which the CloudPrime service is built. Amazon EC2 is an important component of that secure network.

To learn more, visit http://www.cloudprime.net/ .

Added April 15, 2011