The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services has awarded a $15 billion contract for the creation of a virtual data center and consolidation of its huge datasets. CMS’ decentralized status makes interoperability difficult at best within the current network of over eighty data centers and data stores, comprising 400 terabytes of Medicare and Medicaid data.
A more centralized model will help consolidate the data centers to somewhere from six to eight, allowing the agency to better safeguard its confidential information, reduce its energy consumption, and eliminate costly redundant hardware and software systems. The Virtual Data Center contract will provide services such as applications hosting and cloud computing, networking and telecommunications, enterprise security, and disaster recovery. The eight vendors selected for the ten-year contract (Accenture Federal Services LLC, Buccaneer, Companion Data Services, CGI Federal, HP Enterprise Services, IBM US Federal, Lockheed Martin, and National Government Services) will compete for individual task orders and must aid the agency’s plans to standardize its IT infrastructure.
Increasing data storage needs and more robust system requirements for software and hardware impact everyone, from CMS to the single-provider practice. For more information on hardware for EMR systems like Medisoft Clinical or Lytec MD, or other IT offerings such as a proven backup system and managed IT services, contact a healthcare IT specialist at Microwize Technology today.