Case Study: Reengineering the Delivery of Health Care

Iora Health has a bold idea. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup is both a primary practice healthcare provider and an economic game-changer that seeks to transform how the nation’s $2.7 trillion healthcare industry manages patient care.

Starting anew in a field as complex and demanding as healthcare required Iora to build its own practice management software. Electronic medical records (EMR) software, the industry standard, was not compatible with Iora’s radically different approach to patient care. While EMR systems are technically set up for record management, in reality they are really designed to facilitate billing. Iora’s original, custom-created software is completely oriented to effectively managing a patient’s care and health. Iora chose to create its software to be “open, interoperable, and scalable.” The company has resources dedicated to continuous changes in process and rapid redesign of the system.

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Like most startups, Iora wanted to focus on its core strengths, health care innovation and software development, and avoid getting bogged down in the minutia of infrastructure management. Early on, the company made a decision to colocate its Ruby on Rails application at a third party data center and manage their environment themselves. However, Iora quickly realized that it needed a hosting partner that offered fully managed services and that could follow through in the critical area of HIPAA compliance.

Partnering with Blue Box for Technical Depth and Compliance

Iora needed a managed hosting provider that would excel along two important dimensions of the business relationship. First, the provider would need to be highly competent in Ruby on Rails technology and be able to provide expert customer support. That provider would also have to be diligent and creative in its commitment to ensuring that Iora’s systems remain in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) law.