Rehabilitation hospitals need a strong IT base to support patient recovery, especially as care moves beyond traditional rooms to gyms, pools and even patients’ homes.
Spaulding Rehabilitation’s technology foundation
Spaulding Rehabilitation, a leading facility within Mass General Brigham, runs on two on-premises data centers linked by Cisco networking. The setup powers hundreds of mobile devices used at the bedside, in therapy gyms, and in satellite clinics.
Keith Backman, CIO of Spaulding Rehabilitation and Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home, says that the staff is mobile, and the idea is to meet the clinicians and the patients where they are. He adds that clinicians need reliable connectivity whether they are in a pool or a parking garage.
The systemwide IT group, known as the MGB Digital Team, provides 24/7 support, risk management, and centralized AI governance. It also maintains a customized on-premises version of Epic with rehabilitation modules that drive care planning and discharge workflows.
Backman’s local team handles day-to-day support for 3,300 Dell laptops and desktops, 800 Apple iPhones, and 450 iPads. Clinicians use workstations on wheels that access the EHR through Citrix virtual desktops, ensuring a consistent user experience.
Redundancy is built into the infrastructure. An active-passive configuration means that if one data center fails, the other continues operating without interruption. The organization recently added Dynatrace’s observability platform to spot performance issues before they affect care.
Wireless coverage is expanding to every corner of the campus, including outdoor therapy areas and parking structures. The goal is to give clinicians uninterrupted internet access wherever they interact with patients.
About 500 clinicians now use Microsoft Dragon Copilot for AI-driven transcription of therapy sessions. The tool reduces the time spent on paperwork, allowing staff to focus more on direct patient interaction.
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Assistive technologies are also on the rise. A robotic exoskeleton can help patients stand and walk hands-free during physical therapy, offering a new level of independence.
Data-driven care is becoming central to rehabilitation. Spaulding Rehabilitation is developing a data lake application, including Snowflake, for data analytics.
Cloud-driven capabilities at TIRR Memorial Hermann
TIRR Memorial Hermann relies primarily on cloud-based infrastructure. With a fast, wireless network, clinicians—equipped with laptops and other mobile devices—connect to patient records, rehabilitation data, and clinical applications without noticeable lag.
A dedicated multidisciplinary group, the Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research in Rehabilitation, manages data analytics, clinical research, and technology rollout. The team blends data engineers, scientists, and developers who work with high-end desktop workstations and a broader cloud environment that includes Snowflake.
Research integration and emerging technologies
Clinicians raise issues during routine care, and the Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research in Rehabilitation translates those issues into trusted data sets. The group quickly generates answers, tests them at the bedside, and determines whether to scale or modify the approach. This iterative loop sustains a learning health system.
A recent stroke investigation revealed that patients achieving a clinically meaningful 20-point improvement increased from 20% two decades ago to over 50% today. The findings were shared in peer-reviewed journals and inform ongoing protocol adjustments.
Another study examined a canine-assisted therapy program for individuals with brain injuries, documenting a measurable functional advantage for participants. The research shows that non-traditional interventions can complement conventional rehabilitation.
Innovative neurotechnology also entered the clinical setting. A brain-computer interface paired with an augmented-reality headset records task-related brain activity in patients unable to communicate verbally or physically. Gigabytes of data travel continuously across the network, yet the clinical bandwidth remains unaffected.
