Not too long ago, a paperless doctor’s office or hospital might have seemed like a pipedream. Today, for the most part, records are stored electronically. With HIPPAA’s meaningful use requirement, which incentivizes providers to implement EHR technology to improve patient care while maintaining privacy and security of that information, many hospitals and healthcare facilities are taking the next step to securely store patient records by creating data centers of their own—both in the cloud and on-site.
While cloud-based solutions involve little or no hardware of space in a medical facility, opinions vary among IT professionals and hospital officials as to whether that’s the best solution for their facility. That debate leads to another about whether to have an on-site data center or in a separate facility.
“The biggest challenge a facility has in creating a data center is whether or not they have the appropriate space to have something on site. That’s not only a consideration for the present but in the future. That’s why some facilities that prefer their data center to be on site are opting for low-rise access flooring with efficient underfloor wire management systems,” said Thomas Ricciardelli, president of SelecTech, Inc., a leader in the manufacture of innovative flooring products from recycled materials.
Low-rise access flooring enables facilities to house wiring for power and data systemsbeneath the floor. This provides great flexibility for moves, changes and expansion in the future. Modular flooring is then installed on top of the access flooring to provide easy underfloor access, if needed. Typically, most data centers opt for ESD flooring to minimize static electricity, which can potentially disrupt or corrupt electronic data.
“In this new age of electronic information, hospitals, healthcare facilities and other medical centers are really going to have to think more like IT companies when it comes to storing and protection data. The use of ESD flooring is a great example,” added Ricciardelli, whose company has done ESD flooring installs for XO Communications, Dell, iFortress, to name a few.
All SelectTech flooring, including ESD products, employ a patented interlocking technology for easy installation and maintenance. SelecTech’s modular interlocking products integrate extremely well with access flooring and wire management systems. SelecTech flooring products are made using recycled material and are 100 percent recyclable.
To learn more about SelecTech products, visit http://www.selectechinc.com.
