Hybrid Workforce
Enable teams with superior performance no matter the environment.
Kindred Healthcare
Simplifying network management brings quick and secure access to distributed locations
Healthcare 
MR - Meraki Wireless
MX - Security & SD-WANHighlights
- Largest post-acute care provider in the US deploys HIPAA-compliant Cisco Meraki
- Zero-touch deployment with easy centralized management
- Site-to-site VPN connects remote branch locations securely
Overview
Kindred Healthcare is the largest diversified provider of post-acute care services in the United States. Through subsidiaries, they operate in hospitals, nursing centers, home health, hospice and non-medical home care locations as well as a contract rehabilitation services business. Kindred Healthcare has over 2,000 locations in 46 states with 75,000+ employees.
Original networking challenges
- Hard to manage network; devices needed to be configured locally and were too complex for what the branch locations needed
- Dated hardware was expensive and temporary set ups increased total cost
- Lack of on-site IT staff called for a simple to manage centralized network with remote troubleshooting capabilities
Why Cisco Meraki
- Kindred Healthcare was seeking simplicity, fast delivery, and cost efficiency
- Plug and play devices with seamless firmware and security signature updates enable branch deployments without onsite IT, allowing Kindred to scale their deployment as they add locations
- Easy to manage network with deep visibility and control over bandwidth usage
- Kindred can easily customize access for different types of locations and devices
Deployment
- 37 MX60s at hospitals and nursing centers for guest hotspots
- 136 MX60Ws at rehabilitation centers for therapists to use iPod Touch devices
- 24 MX60 or MX60Ws at other locations for VPN or hotspots
- 2 MX400s for data center to VPN to branches
- One SSID for Kindred staff with WPA2 encryption through VPN and one for guests through split tunnel
Results
- Centralized visibility across distributed locations; unique auto-provisioning site-to-site VPN connects locations securely
- Cisco Meraki devices are HIPAA-compliant, enabling secure access to healthcare applications as well as general Internet access for patients and visitors
- Layer 7 firewall, traffic shaping, and content filtering blocks peer-to-peer traffic and controls users and devices
- WAN optimization reduces inter-site application bandwidth consumption between Kindred sites and datacenter