Hospice By The Bay. Leading National Caregivers Get the Attention and the Network They Deserve. Hospice by the Bay

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1 Hospice By The Bay Leading National Caregivers Get the Attention and the Network They Deserve

2 HOSPICE BY THE BAY Founded in San Francisco in 1975 to provide compassionate end-of-life care to terminally ill patient a new healthcare paradigm in the U.S. at that time has grown in both size and mission over the ensuing years. The country s second-oldest hospice now employs close to 300 staff members across its headquarters and four regional locations and served nearly 2,400 patients in 2013: up 6% from the previous year. Similarly, s services have expanded from traditional hospice care to include palliative care, pediatric care, community grief counseling and advanced care planning. Along with this expansion came an increasingly complex need for reliable and secure solutions to s growing voice and data networking needs. As a non-profit organization, cost-effectiveness was a critical goal. And as a healthcare provider handling private medical records, so was remaining in strict compliance with the security and privacy regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which provides for stiff criminal penalties including potential jail time for executives for organizations found to be in violation.

3 Enter NetFortris. Exit Expensive and Outdated System, Headaches Initially, reached out to NetFortris for a consultation about a routinely problematic call manager (price tag = approx. $1M) within their legacy PBX telephone system. Despite constant maintenance and high monthly costs, the organization s phone system was incapable of doing much more than receiving and making calls and recording messages: a far cry from meeting the around-the-clock, multi-location needs of s various constituents, including staff, patients and their families. Upon digging in, NetFortris engineers determined that s previous vendor had failed to provide adequate information about system updates, resulting in a series of needed updates that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to install with no guarantee that they would work properly and the very real risk that installing them at this late date would throw the organization s entire operations into a state of chaos. $ $

4 The NetFortris Solution: Taking Care of the Caregivers Without a signed contract and making no attempt to sell anything, our team held a series of working meetings designed to truly understand s goals and challenges and educate them about their options. Convinced of the economies moving forward and that investing in further fixes for an outdated system was throwing good money after bad, engaged NetFortris to put in place a comprehensive, flexible solution built around the organization s long-term strategic goals.

5 Customer Quote Being a CFO, I didn t just look at the monthly bill, but the total cost over the life of the contract. And since they handle all of the network, I don t have to worry about big expenses like switches it s their responsibility now, not mine. They were more expensive than what we had, but they have saved us more in the long run by far, and not having to carry a 24/7 staff member is a big savings. Now I ve got a 24/7 team. In the past, if that person was sick or on vacation, I was in big trouble Denis Viscek, Chief Financial Officer,

6 The Extra, Elegant Touch: Looking Beyond Phones In learning about s future needs, we heard the organization s plans for a new data network plans that depended on expensive upgrades to old, antiquated servers: a potential recipe for disaster. Because we had become a trusted partner and understood the full scope of s operational needs, we saw an opportunity to build a far more cost-efficient network that integrated voice and data, effectively allowing the organization to do more with less. In the end, we were able to deliver a fully scalable, cloud-based PBX system with mobile integration that connects all of s employees and locations through a MPLS network with increased bandwidth for voice and data. Everything was upgraded at once: seamlessly with no disruption to business. And our Hosted Security solution provides a state-of-the-art firewall and airtight, HIPAA-compliant security.

7 Letting Focus on Families Given their vital mission, Hospice by the Bay can t afford to divert its focus from the enormous task of serving patients, their families and the community. Now, as a result of their partnership with NetFortris, the organization s business communications and networking environment supports that mission like never before. No more patches. No more old technology. No more expensive headaches. Just an elegant, scalable cost-saving solution that lets an essential member of the local community to continue to focus on serving those in need.

8 Case Study At-a-Glance: The Client: HOSPICE BY THE BAY NON-PROFIT FOUNDED nd hospicebythebay.org Oldest Hospice in the U.S. LOCATIONS EMPLOYEES 2400 PATIENTS/ YEAR Why NetFortris? Eliminate ongoing maintenance of existing on-premise PBX Reduce voice & data network costs Connect mobile caretakers to employees at HQ & regional offices Seeking 24/7 elegant solution The NetFortris Solution: Cloud PBX with Mobile Integration MPLS & Internet for HQ & all locations Hosted Security To learn how NetFortris can help your organization leverage secure cloud solutions to reach its goals, visit or contact us at