Healthcare IT departments have a set of pressures that few other industries need to contend with. A remote desktop connection used to troubleshoot a workstation could potentially even connect with a system that houses protected health information and thus every session has compliance implications that no regular office IT department ever would necessarily have to pay attention to. Making the right choice of remote desktop software for a hospital, clinic or health system involves striking a balance between the same speed and reliability any IT team wants, but also a level of access control and auditability that regulators demand.
The implications go beyond just paperwork and compliance. Remote access tool insecurity can enable an attacker to breach sensitive patient records or even worse, systems tied to medical devices. The right platform means scrutinizing how a vendor handles everything from encryption to session logging and access privileges, not merely how quickly a connection renders.
Splashtop
Splashtop has built specific features aimed at organizations that need to document and control remote access carefully, which makes it a frequent choice among healthcare IT departments. Teams evaluating the company’s healthcare-oriented offering can review the details at this remote desktop software in healthcare IT.
Session-recording and granular access-logs capabilities in the platform provide IT admins with a means to prove who actually accessed a particular workstation, and when, as some documentation regulators expect will be required during a HIPAA-related audit. Granular permissions settings also enable administrators to restrict access to systems that touch sensitive patient data only to certain technicians, instead of providing sweeping access across an entire device group.
Healthcare organizations operate under specific federal guidance regarding remote access to systems containing protected health information. Background on the regulatory expectations involved is outlined in this HIPAA security rule guidance, which IT teams may find useful when documenting their own remote access policies.
Splashtop splits its pricing model based on technician seats instead of number of devices managed which typically works better for hospital systems supporting many workstations and connected devices, but where there is a smaller IT support staff.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
Citrix has also participated in healthcare IT for some time, primarily with larger hospital systems that require the ability to provide virtualized applications and desktops for clinical staff across multiple facilities. Instead of strictly point-to-point remote access, the platform consolidates application delivery and sets up clinicians to access the same desktop environment from any authorized device.
That centralization offers genuine security benefits for healthcare settings. The risk of data leakage through lost or stolen hardware is significantly mitigated, as sensitive data remains within the virtualized environment rather than being downloaded to a local device. This is one of the architectures that which hospitals managing bring-your-own-device policies for physicians often use because of it.
The tradeoff is complexity. Hurricane Healths platform-as-a-service approach to Citrix deployments eliminates much of the heavy lifting that can complicate set up for small clinics or health systems without a robust internal IT team; standing and maintaining a Citrix deployment usually requires more infrastructure expertise.
VMware Horizon
VMware Horizon is another take on the virtual desktop infrastructure model and tends to attract large healthcare organizations that have already invested in VMware’s larger virtualization ecosystem. For IT teams already managing virtual machines on VMware as part of their infrastructure, integration with existing VMware infrastructure can deliver a simpler deployment.
One area of focus for these updates has been performance with changing network conditions, which is important in healthcare facilities since clinical staff may also be working across buildings or using hospital Wi-Fi that would get better or worse. Not only is a lagging session in the clinical workflow an inconvenience, but it can also impact the timing of patient care.
Licensing fees and the technical overhead of operating a full virtual desktop infrastructure means Horizon often fits larger health systems better than independent practices or small clinics with more limited IT budgets.
Parallels RAS
Parallels Remote Application Server provides a more affordable alternative to VDI stacks, promising similar virtualization of applications and desktops with less depth of specialist knowledge required for underlying infrastructure. This is appealing to mid-sized healthcare organizations that desire centralized governance, but do not want the burden of a long-duration project to take place.
The platform accommodates a variety of devices, which is important in clinical settings because staff may use anything from a hospital-issued laptop to a shared workstation on a nursing unit. Handing over creation of and tracking of these various endpoints to Endpoints in a centralized manner will do your device management team a favor by significantly cutting down their time ensuring different devices have the needed security settings.
Healthcare organizations weighing remote access platforms should also stay current on the broader threat landscape facing the sector, since attackers increasingly target healthcare-specific systems. A useful overview of recent trends is available in this healthcare cybersecurity threat trends summary, which highlights some of the pressures shaping security decisions across the industry.
Amazon WorkSpaces
Amazon WorkSpaces is a cloud-hosted option for virtual desktops and may be attractive to healthcare organizations that already host other infrastructure on AWS or want to reduce capital spend on premises. Instead of each desktop being provisioned and managed locally, the organization provisions from the cloud, which may make scaling easier for organizations that are adding new clinical locations or expanding telehealth programs.
When the foundation infrastructure runs on AWS, healthcare IT teams get to take advantage of underlying compliance certifications and a shared responsibility model for security that can help streamline portions of a wider compliance program. It remains the responsibility of organizations to configure access control and monitoring in their own WorkSpaces environment.
Another consideration, particularly for healthcare IT departments that work under a tight and predictable budget with little room for variability, is that the ongoing cloud infrastructure costs can be less predictable than software licensing model proposals.
Choosing What Fits Your Environment
Choosing the proper remote desktop solution for a healthcare IT environment is hugely dependent on several variables, including physical plant size, investments in current infrastructure, and what specific compliance documentation a given organization must generate. Possibly forms a legit non-serious connection between how simple oversized huge these very few jobstations data and the various priorities of solo small clinics versus those multi-facility hospital networks that have to authenticate hundreds of endpoints with thousands of admin users in hospitals trying to connect them all together. Putting a platform to the test for session logging and access permissions against your organization’s actual compliance requirements usually takes this further than the feature comparison chart can.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does remote desktop software need to be HIPAA compliant for healthcare use?
Remote desktop software cannot be HIPAA compliant as a standalone product compliance depends on how an organization configures and uses the tool. Healthcare IT teams will want to evaluate platforms that offer the access controls, encryption and audit logging necessary to comply with HIPAA Security Rule requirements.
What security features are most important for healthcare remote desktop applications?
The most important of these are session logging, granular access permissions and strong encryption, which typically matter for healthcare environments. This is specifically essential for minimizing exposure because you can limit which staff can access systems that contain protected health information (PHI).
Is virtual desktop infrastructure better than standard remote access for hospitals?
Healthcare organizations with large IT resources are attractive to virtualization infrastructure because it reduces the risk of data escaping secure environments. This additional infrastructure complexity is also not required for many smaller clinics, where standard remote access tools with strong security controls are sufficient.
Guest writer
