Healthcare has a reputation for moving slowly when it comes to innovation. Thoroughly vetting new solutions is undoubtedly essential to protect patient safety, adhere to regulatory requirements and make sound financial investments. With that said, more recent technological advancements are poised to accelerate adoption timelines following that due diligence.

Enter: containerized services.

We are now leveraging a containerized architecture with the cloud-native Paragon® Denali electronic health record (EHR) system. Here’s what you need to know about containerization and the value it brings to healthcare organizations.

From development to delivery

Without getting too into the weeds, a container is a fully running environment with all the code and everything the code needs to run, packaged together in a single file, so there are

no dependencies on other servers when you’re executing. With containerization, what the developer (i.e., Altera) intends to deliver is exactly what you as the client get, and it will work on your machine (or any other) the same way it does on the developers’, without any changes. This removes the need for your organization to bring up a Windows server, buy and maintain hardware, and maintain an environment that is ideal for the software to run on.

There are many benefits to containerization, particularly for hospitals that really need to get the most out of their IT resources, such as:

1. Smoother updates and upgrades

In non-cloud-based environments without containers, EHR downtime often disrupts patient care and forces providers to temporarily revert to paper documentation. Leveraging containers, we can push updates to client environments incrementally as we make modifications to different components, rather than bringing down the whole system. When clients open the application that has been updated, it takes a matter of seconds for the process to complete.

As we introduce new AI-enabled tools, such as ambient listening for clinical documentation assistance, clients on Paragon Denali be able to bring these capabilities into the hands of their teams faster—and with fewer workflow disruptions.

Leveraging containers, we can push updates to client environments incrementally as we make modifications to different components, rather than bringing down the whole system.

2. Predictable cost of ownership

One of the primary benefits of Paragon Denali is that it offers a predictable cost of ownership for our clients. With containerized services, there are fewer hardware requirements, which are often very costly.

3. Stronger cybersecurity

It is well established that healthcare organizations are one of the primary targets for cyberthreats. Paragon Denali is deployed on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, which has multilayered, built-in security controls and threat intelligence. Regarding containers more specifically, these are inherently more secure than non-containerized environments. If malicious actors somehow bypassed Microsoft, any damage they do would be limited to just the application of the container they are in. We can also easily isolate the breach by simply terminating the breached container and since upgrades are incremental, deploy a new version of the application with the exploit addressed quickly.

From architecture to action

Your EHR system should work for your organization—not the other way around. Learn how Paragon Denali gives clinical, IT and administrative teams the tools they need without technology distractions here.