LifeCare Cuts Costs with MPLS VPN

Looking for a way to improve its videoconferencing and to save money on long distance, LifeCare Hospitals, a hospital management firm whose facilities span the United States, has deployed Masergy's MPLS virtual private network services with IP voice and videoconferencing.

There were several advantages for the hospital chain in moving to an MPLS IP network, says Zeke Zoccoli, chief information officer for LifeCare. With the federal government mandating that hospitals cut costs 6 percent, finding economies that do not impact patient care was a priority.

Although conversion to an MPLS network required some capital outlay, such as upgraded routers, the economies of the network helped offset that. "When we are calling ourselves, which is a huge amount of volume, we are now using our dedicated network," says Zoccoli. "When we moved it all to voice over IP, it reduced telecom costs 50 percent. ... The actual cash outlay we will recoup in six months."

Also, videoconferencing was very important for hospital staff, because they could improve services with regular consultations. However, "with videoconferencing they require high quality. Otherwise the surgeons won't use it," Zoccoli says. "We ran tests and for our [current] line versus the Masergy line there is no comparison, because they give 500 kilobits per seconds between sites all the way. That gives a great picture, but we don't get that with other carriers. You could have the best Qwest or WorldCom lines, but once it gets out to their network, they can drop packets and get jitter."

The hospital group is now converting its entire network to Masergy, an effort that will take until the first quarter of next year.

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