Customer Overview
A government-run hospital in Toronto recognized globally for excellence in geriatric healthcare, brain health research, and innovation in aging. The facility integrates residential care, clinical services, research, and education — making data privacy and collaboration mission-critical.
Challenge
The hospital needed a secure and HIPAA-compliant solution for its remote social workers, legal staff, and research teams to access and share sensitive files stored on-premises — without replicating data or using cloud storage.
Compounding the challenge:
- Their incumbent solution had recently increased in cost, stretching already limited budgets.
- IT needed tighter control over sharing sensitive patient data, with enforced limits like 30-day sharing windows.
- The hospital lacked a simple way to share large imaging files like X-rays securely across institutions.
Why FileFlex Enterprise
FileFlex Enterprise was selected for its unique zero-trust data access model, cost efficiency, and seamless fit into the hospital’s existing infrastructure. It enabled:
- Secure, remote, HIPAA-compliant access to on-premises files for social workers, legal, and research staff.
- Significant cost savings — FileFlex was delivered at a fraction of the cost of the previous solution.
- Granular file control: Users and IT could set share permissions and enforce a 30-day maximum share duration.
- Advanced privacy protections: File access could be restricted to “access-only” (no share) or “view-only” (no download), ideal for sharing PHI or PII with external healthcare partners.
- Support for large file sharing, such as imaging files (X-rays, etc.), without cloud upload or duplication.
- Zero-trust architecture with comprehensive auditing of all file access and sharing activity.
- Centralized IT management tools to configure and enforce data-sharing policies organization-wide.
- Responsive support and seamless upgrades ensured smooth adoption and long-term viability.
Results
- Improved compliance with HIPAA-equivalent standards through strict file-sharing controls and detailed activity logs.
- Enhanced collaboration between departments and external institutions without compromising security.
- Lower total cost of ownership, freeing up budget for patient care and research.
- Future-ready: While initially deployed for on-prem access, the hospital can extend to SharePoint and cloud-hosted storage when desired.
- Provided the hospital with fast support response and easy upgrade installs.
- Supported the hospital’s need to protect PHI and comply with HIPAA equivalent requirements.
