The guest Wi-Fi should never be able to see the practice management server.
Most clinic networks we are called into are one flat network. The front desk, the sensors, the guest Wi-Fi and the practice management software all sit on the same wire. Each one can reach the others. Under HIPAA or under Alberta’s Health Information Act, that is the thing worth fixing, and it is not expensive to fix at design time.
HIPAA if you need it. Alberta’s rules if you are here.
If you are a United States practice, or a Canadian one holding records for American patients, HIPAA is the standard your network has to stand up to. We design and document to its technical safeguards, and much of that work is done remotely.
If you are an Alberta clinic, the law that actually binds you is the Health Information Act, with PIPEDA federally. We say so plainly, because plenty of vendors sell HIPAA compliant networks in Calgary to practices HIPAA does not cover. Knowing which regime you are actually in is the first useful thing anyone can tell you.
Either way the engineering is the same shape. Segmentation, access control, encryption in transit, audit logging and documentation. The obligations differ. The wiring does not.
What a network can and cannot do for you
No network is compliant on its own, under HIPAA or under the HIA. Compliance is your policies, your training, your records handling and your agreements, and the network is one control among several. What we build is the technical part. We build it so it stands up, and we write it down so you can show someone how it works. Anyone promising you more than that is selling something.
Four things a clinic network has to get right.
Segmentation
Patient data, staff devices, imaging sensors, building systems and guest Wi-Fi each get their own VLAN with rules between them. A VLAN is a separate lane running on the same wiring. A tablet in the waiting room cannot reach the server, because there is no path for it to take.
Access control and audit
The network itself decides who can reach what. It does not just trust a password. We log door events and admin access, so you have a record to hand over rather than a memory of what happened.
Coverage that survives the building
Clinics have lead-lined rooms, walls full of plumbing and long corridors. All of that blocks Wi-Fi. The number of access points comes from how the building is built and laid out, not from its floor area. We plan it on the drawings before anything goes on a wall.
Cameras that see the right things
Entrances, dispensary, back door and parking. Not operatories, and never where a camera can read a screen or a chart. We settle that placement at design time, so nobody argues about it later.
Designed first, on paper, before anyone drills anything.
- We work from your drawings. Architectural, electrical or blueprints, whichever you have.
- You get a floor plan. It shows every access point, camera and cable drop, and the area each one covers.
- We write the segmentation plan down, so you can hand it to an auditor or to the next IT company.
- We plan cable routes around the rooms you cannot take offline during clinic hours.
- We certify every run. You keep the test report for every drop.
We do the design and the setup remotely, across Canada and into the United States. We install in Calgary and the surrounding area ourselves. Further afield, registered local installers do the work to our written standards.
Before you ask.
We are a US practice. Can you work with us remotely?
Yes. We do the design, the segmentation plan, the setup and the documentation remotely. That is how most cross-border work runs. A local installer pulls the cable, and we specify what they build.
Can you work outside clinic hours?
Yes, and for most clinics that is the only sensible way to make the switch. We build evening and weekend work into the schedule at the design stage, rather than charge it as a surprise.
We already have a network. Do we have to replace it?
Often not all of it. The audit shows what is carrying your traffic and what is failing. The cheapest quote is the one you do not need. Old gear that still works is left alone.
Do you touch the practice management software?
No. We build and secure the network it runs on. We work with your software vendor on what it needs. We do not configure your PMS and we do not handle patient records.
What does it cost to start?
The office design assessment is $499. If you go ahead within 60 days, we credit it against the install. A larger building is the commercial tier at $999.
Can you also run the cabling and the fibre?
Yes, and we would rather you let us. The compliance argument leans on physical work done right: labelled runs, certified terminations and documented pathways. See office network wiring and fibre installation and splicing.
Start with the design.
One assessment, a real plan, and a quote built from it. If you do not go ahead, you keep the plan and you owe nothing else.