Challenge
Cascade Regional had accumulated four carriers across three acquisition cycles. Their WAN was a patchwork of MPLS, dedicated internet, and broadband — with sites where the secondary path was provisioned by the same carrier as the primary.
EHR latency complaints from outlying clinics were a recurring item on the executive dashboard. Imaging studies were being pre-staged overnight because daytime bandwidth couldn't carry them. The carrier contracts auto-renewed without optimization. And every failover test was a calendar event nobody volunteered for.
The board approved a network modernization initiative. Medical ANS won the engagement on a written commitment: 25%+ WAN savings inside 24 months, validated quarterly, or we'd refund the difference.
Solution
We rebuilt the underlay first. T-Mobile 5G fixed wireless went in as a true diverse path at 11 of 14 sites — physically separate from the primary fiber, validated by RF survey, and engineered into the failover plan. Where dedicated internet was already in place, we right-sized circuits based on 90-day traffic captures.
On top of the underlay, we deployed a Cisco SD-WAN overlay with application-aware policy tuned to the Epic EHR, PACS imaging traffic, voice, and clinical video. Site templates standardized configuration. Zero-touch provisioning brought new sites online in days.
Operations moved to the Medical ANS NOC, with quarterly business reviews replacing what had been an annual carrier-renewal scramble. Failover testing became a recurring calendar item that the SOC and NOC ran on a published schedule.
Results
- 4× — Bandwidth at every connected site
- <1s — Carrier failover, validated quarterly
- $1.4M — Cumulative WAN savings, 24 months
- 28% — Reduction in monthly WAN spend
- 0 — Audit findings on network connectivity, FY25
"The quarterly review is the report I would have written myself if I had the time. The numbers are the numbers — and the savings showed up on schedule."— CIO, Cascade Regional Health