Services and Solutions
TIAG – Technology That Transforms
As a Tier 3 IT operations support mechanism for the entire region and with 28,000 staff dedicated to providing world-class patient care, the Regional Health Command Atlantic (RHC-A) isn’t just one of the largest healthcare systems in the world – it’s also responsible for protecting the sensitive data of more than 600,000 service members, retirees, and their families.
To ensure that the data of these individuals is safeguarded with the highest security standards and confidentiality, RHC-A sought out cybersecurity support to evaluate its current cybersecurity landscape, identify weaknesses in its existing security posture, and implement the necessary protocols and procedures to close these gaps.
TIAG leveraged our proven RMF implementation methodology and continuous monitoring strategies to ensure compliance with all DoD standards, effectively safeguard the organization’s information assets, and expedite obtaining ATOs.
Security Testing and Evaluation. TIAG evaluated RHC-A’s existing cybersecurity landscape and identified potential problem areas. Our cybersecurity experts conducted a thorough evaluation of the organization’s network, applications, and overall security posture. We proactively protected the system from rapidly changing cyber threats by implementing a host-based security system and continuously scanning all devices – including remote mobile devices, desktop computers, and devices connected to external networks – for vulnerabilities using Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). This system was designed to block viruses and malware and allow us to quickly manage, deploy, and secure devices and applications across the entire enterprise.
Gap Analysis and Mitigation. After identifying gaps in RHC-A’s systems and security posture, TIAG developed strategies to close these gaps. They implemented robust security controls and developed detailed Security Assessment Report (SAR) and Risk Assessment Report (RAR) reports on their findings to ensure prompt mitigation and improve protection across the organization’s networks.
Security Control Implementation Plan. We identified how and where each security control – including technical, physical, and administrative controls – would be documented based on existing policies and procedures and outlined how RHC-A’s security posture would be assessed, evaluated, and maintained over time to protect the enterprise and the systems within it from potential threats.For any controls that could not be implemented, either temporarily or permanently, we thoroughly documented in a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) report with recommendations for mitigation.
Ongoing Risk Assessments, System Hardening, and Penetration Testing. We implemented system and application hardening measures in accordance with Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), and conducted regular risk assessments and penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in the network, LAN, and physical systems. TIAG’s proactive approach detected and responded promptly to unauthorized activities and attempts at accessing sensitive information and addressed emerging threats and vulnerabilities before they could be exploited.
SCCM Deployment for Efficient Patch Management and Enhanced Authentication Methods. Deploying SCCM allowed TIAG to ensure that patches and updates were applied consistently across all devices on the network. This contributed to the overall security of the network infrastructure and helped protect the organization’s systems and applications from risks and vulnerabilities. We also implemented more enhanced authentication systems for user accounts and restricted administrator privileges, ensuring that only authorized personnel had access to critical areas of the network. This strategy further protected sensitive data from potential cyberattacks and unauthorized access.
Advanced Risk Management Framework. We developed a comprehensive risk management framework and LAN Authority to Operate (ATO) packages for all sites – including all necessary documents and evidence related to security control implementation, assessments, and improvements for review by the Security Control Assessor (SCA) and Authorization Official (AO), including documentation. As part of this process, we ensured that controls and artifacts were verified to meet Defense Health Agency (DHA) cybersecurity regulations.
TIAG successfully converted all MTFs within the region from DIACAP to RMF, receiving the most approved three-year ATO accreditations among all regions. Our proactive approach and cutting-edge techniques to improve RHC-A’s cybersecurity posture not only strengthened their defenses and led to a significant reduction in vulnerabilities across the region, but also enabled them to more efficiently track and monitor their security status.
The Regional Health Command Atlantic (RHC-A) is a prominent entity within the U.S. military healthcare system, responsible for overseeing healthcare delivery across numerous Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). RHC-A is dedicated to providing comprehensive and high-quality medical services to military personnel, veterans, and their families.
Looking to improve data management and analysis, the Regional Health Command Atlantic (RHC-A) sought a secure solution that would enhance operational efficiency and facilitate comprehensive access and retrieval of clinical data across the complete spectrum of care for all 19 Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) to aid in decision-making, resource allocation, more effective and equitable patient-centered care, and assist in the analysis of the health of populations. RHC-A experienced multiple challenges, which included:
To address these challenges, RHC-A contracted TIAG for data science and business intelligence solutions. TIAG was tasked with creating a faster, more efficient way to extract and analyze the data, while also ensuring it was meaningful and easily understandable across the enterprise. The solution needed to distill extensive MTF-specific metrics into a user-friendly model that produced accurate insights and could be easily adjusted as needed. TIAG tackled RHC-A’s data management challenges by employing innovative strategies, methodologies, and techniques. These include:
The secure, interactive solution created by TIAG transformed the way RHC-A gathered and analyzed data; enabling instant insights, improved resource allocation, and seamless collaboration. Additionally, our solution:
With powerful, intuitive, and interactive dashboards, RHC-A now benefits from rapid, accurate data analysis that allows for strategic decision-making and more effective resource optimization across the enterprise.
The mission of the RHC-A and its more than 17,000 staff members is to provide world-class, proactive, and patient-centered health care for approximately 600,000 service members, retirees, and their families.
RHC-A was experiencing revolutionary transformation and required a flexible, standardized platform across their IT infrastructure and operations to mitigate and resolve issues and concerns.
TIAG’s team of network engineers planned, developed, and deployed a custom IT network infrastructure adhering to RHC-A’s exact specifications, to multiple locations allowing more than 12,000 users to get their data with 100% uptime to support the newly established regional footprint. We migrated the NCR off the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) circuits and onto new circuits and TLA stack at Ft. Detrick, providing RHC-A with enhanced visibility and control of the region. Additionally, we provided design and architectural support to ensure continuity of operations during the migration of the systems and applications from the WRAMC/RHC-A data center. We performed a full Datacenter Virtualization at WRAMC in less than six months to prepare for the migration; migrating hundreds of systems and thousands of users and department storage files to Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), and the regional headquarters facility.
Our team was honored with widespread recognition throughout the DoD for our ability to seamlessly migrate all data, systems and programs from WRAMC to the new facilities without losing any data and with the flexibility for all sites to easily access their data. This allowed the region to achieve the highest levels of IT performance and superior customer service during the migration. In addition to greatly increased collaboration and efficiencies across the region, central hosting also provided a significant cost savings for the region and individual sites.
The mission of the RHC-A and its more than 28,000 staff members is to provide world-class, proactive, patient-centered health care for approximately 600,000 service members, retirees, and their families.
As a Tier 3 IT operations policy and procedure support mechanism for the region; RHC-A needed high-level cybersecurity support that would perform vulnerability assessments and implement cybersecurity protocols and procedures at RHC-A to help safeguard the data of Wounded soldiers, military personnel, and their families.
As a proactive measure, TIAG managed the host-based security system to block viruses and malware and implemented a process to regularly scan for vulnerabilities using the system control configuration manager to ensure all patches and updates were applied across all devices on the network. We established a comprehensive risk management framework process and developed LAN ATO packages for all sites to ensure all required controls and artifacts were in place and fully complied with DHA cybersecurity rules and regulations.
Our proactive approach improved RHC-A’s cybersecurity posture by reducing vulnerabilities across the region and allowed RHC-A to more efficiently track and monitor their cybersecurity. Additionally, we successfully converted all MTFs in the region from DIACAP to RMF and received the most approved three-year ATO accreditations in 2016/2017 across all regions.
The mission of the RHC-A and its more than 17,000 staff members is to provide world-class, proactive and patient-centered health care for approximately 600,000 service members, retirees, and their families.
RHC-A needed a solution to integrate its data repository of 187 unique metrics across business, quality, and performance data into a model that could show MTF commanders the five most important metrics to them by functional area.
There was no single view of the siloed data and RHC-A needed a solution with a comparative view over time for forecasted and actual metrics. To provide meaningful data with methodology and rationale, we created a data repository for their 187 unique metrics, and categorized them so that RHC-A could view the top five metrics most important to each functional area. The data was too substantial (100+ GB) to fit into an Excel spreadsheet and caused continual crashes and stalls, so we created a dashboard where commanders could get a comparative view over time for forecasted and actual metrics. TIAG’s team calculated new metrics to quantify variability, financial impact, and ability to change within each installation. Our solution guarantees reproducibility for each analysis and RHC-A is able to innovate and leverage more data than ever before and optimize resources to further mission accomplishments.
By building an interactive dashboard to enable user-driven exploration of the data, we empowered each MTF commander with clear insights around key mission areas important to their facility. The time to complete analysis is now a matter of minutes for repeat analysis and report generation, including an updated dashboard for more than 30 simultaneous users.