TORCH Foundation Hospital Network

Network Information

Contact
Quang Ngo
President and CEO
(512) 873-0045
quang.ngo@torchnet.org

Website: http://foundation.torchnet.org/

In what year was the network formed? 1999

Members

How many organizations are currently members of the network? 54

Are network members required to make a financial commitment to the network? Yes

If members are required to make a commitment, what kind of commitment? Membership dues, primarily for IT/network support services.

Key Activities

Key Activity 1: Assisting member hospitals to evaluate electronic health record (EHR) systems.

Key Activity 2: Providing onsite Meaningful Use Assessment and developing a roadmap to assist members achieve meaningful use (MU). That decision/need was initiated by the Board. TORCH developed the tools and the process, and then our HIT consultant partner goes on site and then does the analysis and report.

Key Activity 3: Planning and development for a TORCH Health Information Exchange (HIE) covering the “white space” in Texas.

Challenges and Lessons

What were the three biggest challenges you experienced when establishing the HIT network?

1. Staffing availability and skill sets.
2. Financial constraints and knowledge gaps.
3. Varying capacity and level of readiness.

What are the three most important lessons you learned about establishing a HIT network?

1. Having member trust, confidence and support; having credibility from the organization/network side and being a natural partner.
2. Securing a high level of member participation.
3. Providing essential services/support/information that the members need and value, having the right partners, relationship and resources in place. Simply being available and responsive to their needs, priorities and concerns.

Services

What, if any, Hospital HIT services do you offer your members, such as Laboratory Information System (LIS), Radiology Information System (RIS), Electronic Medical Record (EMR)?

None currently, our focus has been on network support services.

What, if any, Clinic HIT services do you offer your members, such as Billing, EMR? 

None currently.

Do you act as an Application Service Provider (ASP) to your members? No

What IT management services do you provide your members?

We do interact/liaison with key application service providers on behalf of our members, usually as part of our member support. We provide a vast array of other advanced/out-of-scope services, such as:

• Network planning; database/system/network configuration
• IT risk assessment; HIPAA security audit; vulnerability assessment
• Website design/redesign
• IT strategic planning
• Custom program/software/application development
• Product consulting and procurement
• Special projects consulting

Do your members have their own IT staff? Yes

What IT networking services do you provide your members?

• 24/7 broadband/T1 connectivity support, management and remote provisioning
• 24/7 connectivity assurance through hardware and software support and troubleshooting
• 24/7 firewall and router access configuration, support and management
• Client Virtual Private Network (VPN) remote access and support for secured Local Area Network-to-Local Area Network (LAN) VPN connections to vendors for business-to-business transactions
• Exchange email access, hosting and support, including new accounts setup, anti-spam and anti-virus filtering, updates and troubleshooting
• Access to experienced professional IT staff for expert advice, consultation and technical assistance
• Website hosting and Domain Name Service (DNS) management
• 24/7 Help Desk support

HIT

How are HIT implementations facilitated with your members?

Specific to our role, we serve as a source of information, education, consultation and general technical assistance. Often the biggest help to the members is our relationship with the vendors and our ability to liaison and provide a forum for meaningful interaction between members and the vendors. We do not assist directly with their HIT/EHR implementation; it is performed by the individual members.

Is the implementation performed by the network or the individual member? Individual members.

What HIT expertise is in most demand for the network?

Fundamentally, network, database and systems administration. Then specific technical skills for network architecture such as planning, implementation, network security and program development.

What HIT expertise is in most demand for the individual members?

In addition to the above, knowledge of industry vendors and systems (ex: anything from transcription, to PACS, to HIS/LIS/RIS, to EHR systems).

What are the three most important critical success factors for HIT networks?

Success Factor 1: Trust, participation and support.

Success Factor 2: Clearly defined and appropriate focus, scope, partners and setting realistic expectations.

Success Factor 3: Sustainability. Establishing a business model and providing a set of services that members value and are willing to pay for those services, services that they view are essential and natural to their process of delivering quality healthcare and hospital operation. (As we look forward, HIE will be a top priority to aid in our network sustainability.)