Grady Health System Delivers Digital Healthcare with Comcast Business Ethernet

Grady Health System Delivers Digital Healthcare with Comcast Business Ethernet

Georgia's Largest Hospital Connects 17 Sites and Supports Electronic Medical Records, Digital Medical Imaging and Telemedicine with Comcast Ethernet Network Service and Ethernet Dedicated Internet

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to business and residential customers, today announced that Grady Health System, one of the largest public health systems in the U.S., has selected Comcast Business Ethernet to deliver technology-based healthcare initiatives that improve patient care and boost efficiency for medical and administrative staff across all of its facilities.

The Grady Health System includes Grady Memorial Hospital - the largest hospital in Georgia - licensed for 953 beds. The hospital opened in 1892 and is well known throughout the region - it is the premier level 1 trauma center in the Metro Atlanta area. In addition, the health system operates six neighborhood health centers, an outpatient pharmacy, Crestview Health & Rehabilitation Center, and Grady EMS, the 911 ambulance service for the city of Atlanta, responding to more than 100,000 calls each year.

High-performance Ethernet from Comcast Business is providing network capacity for Grady's remote offices to use Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and telemedicine programs for its patients. These programs enable real-time transfer of digital medical records and high-resolution radiology files, improving the speed of diagnosis and information sharing to enhance patient care. Comcast Ethernet Network Service provides 300 Megabits per second (Mbps) of performance to Grady's data centers and 50 Mbps connections to 15 other remote sites to enhance connectivity between facilities. Grady also has an Ethernet Dedicated Internet line that provides a 100 Mbps connection to the Internet over the national Comcast network.

"Comcast Business Ethernet gives us five times the bandwidth at less than the cost of our previous provider, and they helped us to simplify our network infrastructure while streamlining the support services associated with change control, and the other administrative functions, which is important in an organization this large," said Kevin Yearick, director of network services at Grady Health System. "The implementation process was simple because Comcast provides fiber connections right to all of our buildings, so we can connect 17 different sites and utilize the benefits of EMR and PACS throughout all of our facilities."

EMR and PACS are important technologies that are becoming more widely used in healthcare. According to a recent report from Kalorama Information, more than 70% of physicians have used EMR, up from only 26% in 2006. In addition, Grady's Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center uses a regional PACS system to work closely with facilities in surrounding counties, allowing patients' digital radiology files to be sent remotely for diagnosis by leading specialists to see if the patient should be admitted to the Marcus Center. This can reduce or eliminate long trips into Atlanta for patient visits, and expands access to specialists for those in remote areas, facilitating faster diagnosis.

"Grady Health System is well-recognized throughout Georgia for its trauma center and other innovative programs, and needed a high-performance Wide Area Network to support the many healthcare technology systems that it uses at remote facilities, including EMR and PACS," said Bob Deckard, regional vice president at Comcast Business. "These innovative technologies can improve the speed and quality of patient care, and Comcast Business Ethernet enables Grady to deliver them throughout the greater Atlanta area in real-time."

Previously, Grady had sourced a number of services from different providers, which made network management, maintenance and billing more complex. By consolidating video and data services into a single relationship with Comcast through Comcast Business TV and Ethernet services, Grady is upgrading its infrastructure and can more easily manage and grow its network operations over time. In the future, Grady intends to introduce educational content to the patient room television as well as waiting areas.

About Comcast Business

Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, provides advanced communication solutions to help organizations of all sizes meet their business objectives. Through a modern, advanced network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast delivers Business Internet, TV and Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications management.

The Comcast Business Ethernet suite offers high-performance point-to-point and multi-point Ethernet services with the capacity to deliver cloud computing, software-as-a-service, business continuity/disaster recovery and other bandwidth-intensive applications. Comcast Ethernet services are significantly faster than standard T1 lines and other legacy technologies, providing scalable bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) in more than 20 major US markets.

For more information, call 866-429-3085 or visit http://business.comcast.com/enterprise.

Follow us on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social.

About Comcast Cable

Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to businesses and residential customers. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

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