UPDATED 17:01 EDT / MAY 20 2014

Telemedicine, and wearable tech’s impact on healthcare regulation | #EMCworld

EMC World - David BrattEarlier this month, theCUBE was at EMC World 2014, held at The Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas, featuring two live broadcasts for SiliconANGLE. In this interview, Jeff Frick and Steve Kenniston sat down with David Bratt, Director of Technology Services for Miami Children’s Hospital, to discuss how his organization benefits from Isilon, as well as the technologies they’re using for a telemedicine initiative.

After a brief introduction on Miami Children’s Hospital, Bratt mentioned that the majority of their infrastructure is “storage, storage, storage.” He said that it’s growing tremendously, and it’s where they spend most of their time. They also manage the network and telecommunications environment, but their storage environment is clearly the one that’s growing the most.

How and why Miami Children’s Hospital uses EMC Isilon

 .

Bratt went on to explain his team’s involvement with EMC products, having been an Isilon customer for about a year, and that environment alone has tripled since then. Bratt described how they use Isilon for all facets of on-structure data, Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) and any type of video repository. They’re also replicating that data for protection.

Bratt also said that they chose to go with the Isilon platform because of cost, manageability and ease of use. They wanted something that could grow with the organization, scale rapidly and not cause any complexities during migration. In terms of manageability and ease of use, Bratt said that they no longer need highly trained storage personnel specifically trained at one particular type of an array. They’re now able to manage the product very simply, allocate file shares and assign permissions in the snap of a finger.

Kenniston then asked Bratt how much capacity they have under management. Bratt said that they have a half a PB in their environment. They primarily rely on the Isilon technologies with the snaps as well as the replication to their secondary data center for data protection. A typical backup system is used to spin that off the tape and send it off site, but Bratt said it’s rare for them to have to go back to backup their system, which he considers another advantage of the Isilon product.

Healthcare regulations and the Internet of Things

 .

Frick brought up the topic of regulations in healthcare and the Internet of Things (IoT). He asked Bratt about how real the IoT is, what he’s seeing and how that’s affecting their data sets.

“There’s no doubt about it that, in the healthcare field, there’s tons of regulations we have to follow. At the end of the day, for us, it’s somebody’s child that we’re taking care of. So, the last thing we want a patient or a family member to worry about is [if] their data is getting in the hands of somebody else,” said Bratt.

He added that, with the inherent technologies in Isilon, they’re able to lock down some of those file shares, ensuring that the only people who have access are that patient and the physician currently treating him or her. He also mentioned that he’s fortunate to work with an agile, flexible team that appreciates change, and can adjust to regulations.

Frick then questioned Bratt about the exploding data from the growing number of sources, including connected devices like smartphones and wearable trackers. Bratt responded saying that everybody has an electronic medical record now, and they have to retain those records for a very long time. On top of that, they’re also gathering information about that data, which is what’s mainly driving their growth in the research realm.

What’s next?

 .

Kenniston asked Bratt what’s next for Miami Children’s Hospital and also about what challenges present on the horizon. Bratt said that their next challenge is making sense of all the data and trying to come up with personalized plans for patients to make sure that they know the path and protocol for treatment. He also said that the data warehouse and genomics projects on the Isilon product are huge in getting his team to that next level.

Bringing up the subject of Watson knowledge and being able to tie into a global resource in order to take patient care from a ‘get well soon’ to a ‘get well now’ system, Kenniston asked Bratt what this looks like for his organization.

Bratt responded that, like may healthcare organizations, they’re just trying to get the right answers as quickly as possible to offer the best care for their patients. He added that they do have their own Watson-like product built by their enterprise data warehouse team, which he believes is hopeful in being the right path to go, more so for the patients and families that they serve.

  • Telemedicine

Bringing the discussion back to Miami Children’s Hospital’s infrastructure, Kenniston asked Bratt about what other parts would be tough to do without. Bratt explained that video is a big play for them – not just raw video feeds, but video with the medical equipment provided for their telemedicine initiative. They now have ability to treat people internationally and store that information, which includes the video feed and medical data, with all the telemetry equipment. You can get all the things you would typically have to go to a physician’s office to access, and also have a trained clinician read results for you.

 


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU