VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2 BUSINESS CONNECTIONS A one-stop shop for health care Improving Health by Expanding Broadband 3 Spotlight on Apple Valley Medical Center 4 Frontier is Your One-Stop Shop 5 Fiber Levels the Playing Field 6 What s the Prescription for Big Bandwidth Needs? 7 frontier.com/businessedge
BUSINESS CONNECTIONS About Frontier Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) offers broadband, voice, satellite video, wireless Internet data access, data security solutions, bundled offerings, specialized bundles for residential customers, small businesses, home offices and advanced business communications. Frontier s approximately 17,000 employees are based entirely in the United States. More information is available at frontier.com/businessedge. When lives are at stake, efficient communication is critical. That s why Frontier is particularly honored to partner with health care providers across the county and develop solutions to meet their unique communications needs. For example, robust broadband connections are key to utilizing technology such as telemedicine. Advanced networking solutions support integrated patient care across multiple resources caregivers, health systems and clinicians, social service agencies, community health centers, wellness providers and researchers. In this Business Connections issue, we look at issues related to health care and communications technol-ogy. One of these issues is keeping people connected to the resources they need to get well and stay healthy, and this goal is the focus of the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force featured here. Be sure to check out the Business Spotlight on Apple Valley Medical Center in Apple Valley, Minn. It s celebrating 40 years of operation and is at the forefront of making health care more convenient and ac-cessible in the suburbs. Frontier provides the Internet and phone solutions required to keep Apple Valley Medical Center connected. Also in this issue is a look at the importance of fiber in leveling the playing field between urban and rural health care providers. Frontier has invested heavily in our fiber networks and, as a result, can offer a variety of networking services including Frontier Ethernet Solutions. Whether you re a health care provider or work in another business category, Frontier has cost-effective communications solutions to help you achieve a healthy bottom line. Give us a call to start planning your next steps. Sincerely, Business Connections is a publication of Frontier Communications. Main Office: Stamford, CT. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, electronic, photocopying, recording, mechanical or otherwise without the prior written permission of Frontier. All rights are reserved. Editorial and Circulation Contact: Grant Waldrop Senior Manager, Commercial Marketing 805 Central Expressway South Allen, TX 75013 grant.w.waldrop@ftr.com All brand names and product names used in this publication are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright 2015 by Frontier Communications and Cornerstone Publishing Group, Inc. Cory Jones VP, Commercial Marketing Frontier Communications 2Frontier Business Edge brand guidelines February 2015 20
BUSINESS CONNECTIONS Executive Summary Improving Health by Expanding Broadband THE CONNECT2HEALTHFCC TASK FORCE WANTS EVERYONE CONNECTED The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has worked for years to help implement Congressional mandates, collaborated with other federal agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and developed rules and policies that support adoption of broadband-enabled health care solutions and the availability of health-related technologies for all Americans. Formed in 2014, the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force is focusing on the critical intersection of broadband, advanced technology and health. Its vision is to get everyone connected to the people, services and information they need to get well and stay healthy. Linking resources Consumers rely on many resources for their health doctors, social services, nutritionists, pharmacies, caregivers and others and the Task Force believes better outcomes and lower costs will result when these resources are linked through broadband connections. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn noted, Broad-bandenabled health solutions can help communities better manage chronic diseases, address language barri-ers, improve health literacy, ensure that our veterans adjust and thrive, and help improve overall population health and wellness. The Connect2HealthFCC Task Force will serve as an umbrella for all FCC health-oriented activities, including: Promoting effective policy and regulatory solutions that encourage broadband adoption and promote health IT. Identifying regulatory barriers (and incentives) to the deployment of advanced health care technologies and devices. Engaging a diverse array of traditional and nontraditional stakeholders to identify emerging issues and opportunities in the broadband health space. Strengthening the nation s telehealth infrastructure through its Rural Health Care Program and other initiatives. Encouraging the development of broadband enabled health technologies that are designed to be fully accessible to people with disabilities. Raising consumer awareness about the value proposition of broadband in the health care sector and its potential for addressing health care disparities. Highlighting effective telehealth projects, broad band-enabled health technologies, and mhealth applications across the country and abroad to identify lessons learned, best practices and regula tory challenges. A catalyst for change As expressed on connect2health@fcc.gov, the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force will continue to work with other policymakers, businesses, organizations, health care providers, communications companies and consumers that are interested in this population health vision. We want to hear from individuals young and old who are using broadband-based technologies to successfully address health concerns. We want to better understand adoption barriers to broadband-enabled health technologies, expe-rienced by rich and poor alike, and in rural and urban areas. And we plan to do our part to identify policy and regu-latory challenges that inhibit innovation, investment and entrepreneurship in digital health. Our goal is to be a cata-lyst for making this new broadband-enabled health care ecosystem a reality. To offer comments or to partner, contact the C2H team at connect2health@fcc.gov. Frontier Business Edge brand guidelines February 2015 frontier.com/businessedge 203
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Apple Valley Medical Center THIS ONE-STOP SHOP PROVIDES CONVENIENT, READILY ACCESSIBLE HEALTH CARE When the Apple Valley Medical Center opened its doors in 1974, just months after Apple Valley officially became a city, Reader s Digest called it the wave of the future in the suburbs. Four insightful physicians established objectives that set the center on a path for growth. They vowed to provide high quality, comprehensive medical care that was readily available and to create relationships based on integrity, involvement and communication. Head to toe and around the clock Their innovative vision is still evident 40 years later, as the Apple Valley Medical Center has grown to become a unique one-stop shop for health care. Inside a single building in Apple Valley, Minn., the center offers a spectrum of services including: Apple Valley Medical Clinic 24-Hour Urgent Care Occupational Health Services Clinical Skin Therapeutics Sleep Center United Specialty Center United Medical Imaging Center Courage Kenny Sports & Physical Therapy Apple Valley Pharmacy The goal is to make health care convenient and easily accessible; a wide variety of medical issues can be addressed in one place. For example, the United Specialty Center alone is staffed by more than 30 board-certified specialists providing care in allergy and asthma; ankle and foot; cardiology; colon and rectal surgery; der-matology; ear, nose and throat; general surgery; low back and neck care; ob/gyn; ophthalmology; orthopedics; podiatry and urology. What s more, accessibility is not limited to just 24-hour Urgent Care. To more readily accommodate busy fami-lies, Apple Valley Medical Clinic, the family medicine clinic, offers same-day appointments and is fully staffed with physicians from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. 4Frontier Business Edge brand guidelines February 2015 20
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Strong connections with Fronteir The Apple Valley Medical Center became a Frontier customer in 1990 and currently uses these communications solutions: Voice PRI (T1 line), long distance, a Mitel phone system, Frontier Ethernet Solutions and Wi-Fi service in the lobby. Derek Hensche, Manager of Patient Services and Information Hub Call Center, said, Our Information Hub Call Center includes the appointment desk and nurse triage line. Callers can schedule an appointment, request a prescription refill or speak with a nurse. Frontier recently installed the new Mitel phone system to better meet the needs of the Apple Valley Medical Center. Explained Hensche, The previous phone system could not give us reporting on call times or trends, plus it was no longer being supported. We simply can t afford downtime since patients need to be able to get through to make appointments. I worked with Frontier to upgrade to the Mitel phone system, which gives us all the call reporting features we want. I worked with Frontier to upgrade to the Mitel phone system, which gives us all the call reporting features we want. DEREK HENSCHE, MANAGER OF PATIENT SERVICES AND INFORMATION HUB He added, Now we get reports that answer questions such as: How many total calls come in each day? How many calls are answered per employee? What are the hold times for callers? When are the high volume times during the day? This information is key, since it lets us know how to adjust our staffing. We don t want callers to have to wait for long. Our goal at the Apple Valley Medical Center is to have wait times of no more than three minutes. Jim Krieger, Frontier Account Manager, describes another benefit to the Mitel phone system, Its IP phones provide flexibility to be moved from place to place when there are office or personnel changes. The Apple Valley Medical Center doesn t have to have Frontier come out for a service call to make changes; its staff can easily handle them internally. Due to growth in the role of technology in health care, Frontier significantly increased the Internet speeds at the Apple Valley Medical Center in 2014. We re an entirely Electronic Health Records (EHR) facility, so we need a lot of speed and bandwidth, said Hensche. Attentive service is something patients can expect from the Apple Valley Medical Center, and it s also what the center receives from Frontier. Hensche commented, I can t say enough about Steve Schneider, one of Frontier s technicians, and the entire Frontier team. I have Steve s cell phone number, and if I call, he s here right away to help. He knows our building and its phone lines very well, which is a great asset to us. Frontier is Your One-Stop Shop for Communications Solutions The Apple Valley Medical Center and Frontier have several qualities in common. Darrell Hansen, General Manager at Frontier in Blooming Prairie, Minn., com-mented, Both of our organizations are actively involved in the communities where we live and work. We both put our customers (or in their case, patients) first. And we both offer a wide variety of services under one roof. Frontier is your one-stop shop for communications solutions including: Ethernet Solutions Dedicated Internet Access Managed IP VPN VoIP (hosted and premised based) Communications & Network Equipment Optical Transport Services Managed IT Services Audio, Web & Video Conferencing Wireless Data Access/Wi-Fi Data Backup & Recovery Business High-Speed Internet Local & Long-Distance Service 5Frontier Business Edge brand guidelines February 2015 20
BUSINESS CONNECTIONS Fiber levels the playing field IT S KEY TO BUSINESS GROWTH AND HELPS CLOSE THE URBAN-RURAL TECHNOLOGY GAP To understand the importance of building fiber networks, it s useful to look back at a couple of other life-changing infrastructure projects. By 1900, much of our nation s railroad system was in place; it cleared the way for the settlement of the West, provided new eco-nomic opportunities and stimulated the development of communities. In the 1950s and 1960s, the new Interstate Highway System brought business to the towns it went through while towns far from the new faster roads strug-gled to survive. Today, fiber is becoming as essential to business growth, and everyday life in general, as railroad tracks and highways were in the previous century. The huge impact of fiber is even more amazing when you consider just how tiny fiber is; each strand of glass is only about the size of a human hair. Fiber uses light to transmit data and is unique in its ability to transport virtually unlimited bandwidth over long distances. It s the only technology that delivers enough bandwidth reliably and at a low enough cost to meet the ever-increasing demand for more robust Internet, video and voice services as well as other applications. Thanks to fiber, Internet speeds of 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second) and higher are starting to become avail-able. Why do we need all this bandwidth? Here are a few reasons: Businesses are making a massive shift to cloud services. For economic efficiency, their critical systems now operate at remote data centers rather than on-site computers. The speed, reliability and security of fiber connections make cloud services viable. The American Telemedicine Association estimates there are now 200 telemedicine networks in the U.S., connecting over 3,000 institutions.1 Services such as distance learning and remote energy management are expected to grow considerably over the next several years. Bandwidth demand is growing at an enormously high rate, and is projected to grow for years to come. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2011-2016), there are expected to be 3.4 billion Internet users by 2016 about 45 percent of the world s projected population according to United Nations estimates. In addition, the average fixed broadband speed is expected to increase nearly fourfold, from 9 Mbps in 2011 to 34 Mbps in 2016. 2 Bandwidth demand is growing at an enormously high rate, and is projected to grow for years to come. When fiber networks come to smaller cities and rural communities, it helps level the playing field and close the urban-rural technology gap. Existing businesses can access the Internet speeds and reliability needed to expand e-commerce. Economic development organizations have an easier time attracting new businesses. And educational opportunities, once only found in large schools, can now be delivered to rural classrooms via online education. 1 http://www.americantelemed.org/about-telemedicine/ faqs#.vk8k-mtf9q4 2 http://newsroom.cisco.com/release/888280/cisco-s-vni- Forecast-Projects-the-Internet-Will-Be-Four-_1 6Frontier Business Edge brand guidelines February 2015 20
BUSINESS CONNECTIONS What s the Prescription for Big Bandwidth Needs? HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS TURN TO FRONTIER ETHERNET SOLUTIONS Many factors contribute to the increased bandwidth needs of today s health care providers. Among them are the high-bandwidth applications used in telemedicine, the transition from paper records to electronic and the demand for wireless coverage throughout facilities for use by staff, patients and visitors. Frontier provides a variety of Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) compliant scalable Frontier Ethernet Solutions such as Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) and Ethernet Internet Access (EIA). Whether you help manage a large, multi-location hospital or a growing clinic, there s a solution tailored to meet your needs. You ll benefit from easy integration with existing networks and infrastructures, high availability and performance, symmetrical upload and download speeds, coordinated migration from other carriers with minimal downtime and a commercial grade network with a coast-to-coast data backbone. Frontier Ethernet Solutions provide secure data exchanges exceeding speeds of 1 Gbps. We ll partner with you to develop a solution that meets your needs. Options include: Frontier now offers training on technology solutions Frontier Training Academy is your source for a wide selection of courses and industry-recognized certifications covering many of the world s leading business, technology and network plat-forms. We re partnering with Global Knowledge to offer this training in order to help our customers use Frontier s communications services and equipment to their full advantage. For example, you can choose from hundreds of Information Technology courses covering solutions by Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, VMWare and more. Also available are world-class ITIL courses that help align IT services with the needs of business. These courses range in duration from one to five days and offer interactive learning through team exercises, simulations and role-playing. It s an exciting time of growth and Frontier is working diligently to meet or exceed our customers Internet expectations. Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) Frontier EVPL is a point-to-point or point- to-multipoint Ethernet data transport service delivered over Frontier s private layer 2 network infrastructure. Through service multiplexing, a single connection to the Frontier network supports virtual connections to multiple sites. Frontier EVPL service includes Quality of Service (QoS), Class of Service (CoS) and industry leading Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Ethernet Internet Access (EIA) Frontier EIA provides high-speed access up to and beyond 1 Gbps. Our solution includes integrated Internet access solutions with a single point of contact for service needs, limited susceptibility to peak time usage fluctuations and enhanced service reliability and performance. Frontier works with health care providers across the country and we understand that you face increased expectations from patients, stringent data privacy requirements and pressure to control costs. To learn how the increased bandwidth of Frontier Ethernet Solutions can benefit your hospital or medical practice, visit www.frontier.com/enterprise. For more details about Frontier Training Academy, including a complete list of available courses and online registration, visit http:// learning portals.globalknowledge. com/frontier/en-us. 7Frontier Business Edge brand guidelines February 2015 20
24/7 MANAGED WI-FI SOLUTIONS FROM FRONTIER You focus on health care we ll focus on technology Our custom-designed solutions provide wireless Internet access throughout your health care facility. Employees, patients and visitors appreciate secure, reliable and fast Wi-Fi connections. Frontier provides 24/7 network monitoring with ongoing maintenance and support. You save time by eliminating the hassles of Wi-Fi management. By leveraging one of our flexible financing solutions, no upfront capital outlay is required. Want to know more? Start a conversation about Wi-Fi with one of our U.S.-based representatives today. Visit frontier.com/businessedge. 2015 Frontier Communications Corporation.