Delivering Thin Client Computing in Healthcare Environments

Delivering IT services within a healthcare environment has always been about user mobility and security. Whether that’s delivering IT services within a hospital environment, a remote clinic, a doctor's surgery, or even visiting patients in their own homes.

Healthcare IT teams have always struggled to keep pace with technology and ever-shrinking budgets. How can we ensure that frontline healthcare professionals have access to the correct information, applications and services while maintaining security and patient confidentiality?

Enter ThinKiosk, revolutionary software-based thin clients that solve all of these issues.

Increasingly, patient medical information is being stored in Electronic Health Records systems (EHR) which centralize data in an electronic format, and are designed to protect the privacy and security of patient data and more importantly ensure the integrity of that data. Systems exist from companies such as Epic, Cerner, Siemens, and GE Healthcare, for example.

The key to EHR systems is the ability for clinicians and healthcare professionals to quickly, easily, and securely have access to the correct applications and patient information. They also typically need this access from anywhere and at anytime, as having access to this information could literally be the difference between life and death for patients.

As part of a drive to centralize patient data, many healthcare organizations are turning to virtual desktop and application solutions, partly to reduce costs, but also to secure sensitive patient data within the confines of the data center. However, the devices that are being used by clinicians and healthcare professionals often increases risk.

This is where healthcare IT teams consider deploying thin client devices. But doing this is going to come at additional cost when budgets are already stretched. However, ThinScale have the answer with ThinKiosk.

ThinScale has transformed the virtualization possibilities of Covered Entities and other regulated healthcare stakeholders across the globe with independently audited HIPAA software defined thin client solutions.

These solutions have operational advantages which empower clinicians to see more patients in less time, without compromising on patient data security.

But our solutions do not only support clinicians. They help manage policy and regulatory based compliance obligations. They underpin health information protection at all levels within healthcare organizations and they enable new flexible remote working strategies - all without the typical downside of allocating budget to new hardware spend. Download our HIPAA compliance paper here.

ThinKiosk and Secure Remote Worker have some key functionality in enabling personal & corporate devices to become PCI compliant, including:

Windows Patch Management
Windows Firewall Control
Windows Security Centre Detection
USB Device Blocking
Application Execution Prevention (AEP)
Service Execution Prevention (SEP)
Restricted access to key operating system components

Read more on security and compliance here.

ThinKiosk is a software-defined solution that repurposes existing Windows hardware into Windows-based thin clients. As PCs, laptops, and existing thin clients will already be in place, ThinKiosk can turn these into centrally managed Windows-based thin clients, delivering clinicians a familiar look and feel, but more importantly a secure workspace interface from where to access healthcare systems and patient data.

Not only does ThinKiosk convert existing Windows devices, adding central management, it also enables flexible working, allowing either field-based healthcare professionals to have secure remote access to centralized patient records from any Windows device, or allowing clinicians the freedom to move between clinics and departments.