AppAssure Software Customer Takes Risk, Fights for Budget to Protect Information Systems

Lincoln County Healthcare’s mandate – to ensure access to high-quality, patient-centered, affordable care – meant that 2 distinct hospital systems had to be integrated to provide a seamless whole in terms of patient care, governance, finance, and of course, IT. This is where Brooks Betts, Vice President of Information Services at LCH, comes in.

For the last 7 years, Brooks and his team of 10 IT folks have had to support everything including their IT infrastructure and Health Care Information Systems. “We’re generalists here. We’re a small shop with about 60 servers and about 650 workstations; all windows-based, so everyone has to do everything. On any given day, we’ll work on desktops and printers and then turn around and be installing a new fiber connection and installing a new switch, router or wireless access point. We can’t afford to specialize in any one area of technology since there is so much to do and a small team to get it done.”

Whether staffing the help desk, answering calls, or going back and forth to the two hospitals, each day is very much dictated by what the LCH users need. And in the midst of this melee, Brooks and his team have to figure out how to make things run more smoothly – testing, installing patches, upgrading, etc. “No one is a specialist here. We’re kind of like the McGyvers – we have to know a bit about everything.”

Like most IT people, what keeps Brooks up at night is the fear of a catastrophic failure of a business critical system. “We had been using a big traditional backup product but it just wasn’t working the way we need it to. One day, one of my team members, Dave Phillips, came to me with information on AppAssure, and suggested I try it out. I did the web demo, downloaded the free trial, and I was blown away! I decided it was exactly what we needed.”

Since Brooks and his team can’t afford to be specialists in backup with so much terminology and details, he knew that the infrastructure of LCH needed a system that solved problems and answered questions that he could understand. “With AppAssure, I didn’t have to take a class on how to do my backup system. It all made sense and was easy to do.”

Pitching It to the Boss

So Brooks drew up a plan and went to the CFO and CEO of LCH and said, “I realize this might be the worst time to ask for money for IT, but we can’t afford NOT to have this solution BEFORE there’s any massive problem.” LCH’s senior management agreed and now Brooks is sleeping better at night.

“Even though we’re generalists, we have to solve the same problems that the big guys do, so AppAssure’s solution was a no brainer for an organization like mine.” After purchasing AppAssure, Brooks set about testing. He did a regular restore test and recently completed a bare metal restore. “The tests went exactly the way it was described,” he said. “Restores were a nightmare until AppAssure came along. I cannot believe how easy it was! The team can do it themselves – they don’t need to go to a backup specialist. And this helps us meet federal mandates and deal with compliance issues as well. We made the right decision.”

What’s Up Next

With AppAssure in place, Brooks and his team can concentrate on the other critical projects in front of them, like the heavy duty Federal mandated Electronic Medical Record requirements that are continually changing. “We’ve got some really cool stuff we’re working on with bedside medication verification, biometrics, and staffing integration. Knowing that AppAssure is in place allows my team to focus on other things. I feel like we’re right on track for the big health care changes that are coming in the country.”

Brooks’ personal IT philosophy is: if you’re an IT person and you’re not getting successful backup, you’re not doing your job. Period. No matter what size the shop, backups are essential. He recommends that people try the AppAssure 30 day trial and not just take his word for it. “Download it yourself and you’ll be sold!”

About LCH

Lincoln County Healthcare is a small health system on the rugged coast of Maine including two small hospitals and retirement communities. In 2007, the trustees of two small hospitals (Miles Memorial Hospital and St. Andrews Hospital & Healthcare Center) voted to create the new parent organization Lincoln County Healthcare (LCH) which has more than 1200 full and part-time employees.