Zix Corporation Chosen as Preferred Provider of Secure e-Messaging Services for Ascension Health System
DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 1, 2003– Largest U.S. nonprofit Catholic healthcare system standardizes on ZixCorp services
Zix Corporation (ZixCorp(TM)), (Nasdaq:ZIXI), a global provider of e-messaging management and protection services, today announced that St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the largest not-for-profit Catholic healthcare system in the United States, has chosen ZixCorp as its preferred provider and is recommending that its member ministries standardize on ZixCorp secure e-messaging services to help meet the mandates of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regarding electronic communications over public networks.
After extensively researching a number of providers, Ascension Health selected ZixCorp’s comprehensive suite of services for its ease of use and superior deployment flexibility in meeting the varying requirements in the Ascension Health system. Ascension Health will utilize multiple ZixCorp services including: ZixVPM(TM) (Zix Virtual Private Messenger(TM)), a server-based gateway solution; ZixMail(TM), a desktop-to-desktop encryption service; and ZixPort(TM), a secure e-messaging portal service for e-messaging needs. In addition to ensuring that Protected Health Information (PHI) is safeguarded in compliance with HIPAA, the organization plans to encrypt sensitive business data, including contracts, proposals, senior executive correspondence, legal information, employment data, and security assessment results.
Ascension Health’s decision to deploy ZixCorp products and services as the preferred e-messaging solution for its system was announced at a video conference held by Ascension Health in April with other hospitals in its system. As previously announced, St. Agnes HealthCare of Baltimore, Md., pioneered the initial deployment of ZixCorp services for the system. Additional Ascension Health hospitals that have recently purchased ZixCorp services include: Seton Healthcare Network in Austin, Texas; St. Mary’s Health System in Evansville, Ind.; and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Idaho. Each Ascension Health hospital has the ability to choose the ZixCorp solution that best fits its particular needs. In addition, many of the ministries have used the ZixAuditor(TM) assessment service to identify the amount of inbound and outbound email that may contain regulated, sensitive, or proprietary information.
“ZixCorp scored the highest on our rigorous provider evaluation,” said Dale “Chip” Dahlstrom, CISSP, chief security officer, Ascension Health Information Services Division. “We looked at eight vendors across nine categories — including; interoperability, ease of use, end-user participation, and depth of content-based lexicons — and ZixCorp was the clear winner. ZixCorp solutions not only enable us to seamlessly integrate these services into our existing systems, but they will also save us thousands in operating costs. It was important for us to find the vendor that could meet the individual needs of each of our hospitals without creating a cookie-cutter solution, which may not fit every instance. ZixCorp services can provide desktop-to-desktop encryption, a suite of fully hosted services, and everything in between without complicating the lives of end users. We didn’t need just a HIPAA-compliant technology for email security, we needed a solution for the complex task of quickly enabling privacy protection throughout our entire network. ZixCorp is that solution for us.”
“We are honored to include Ascension Health to our growing list of leading healthcare customers that have selected us as their secure e-messaging solution,” said Wael Mohamed, vice president, global distribution for ZixCorp. “We have designed our secure e-messaging solutions suite to be simple to use and interoperable so that organizations like Ascension Health that communicate with numerous trading partners can continue using email as a necessary and effective business tool. We look forward to serving Ascension Health and their member organizations for many years to come.”
About Ascension Health
Ascension Health (www.ascensionhealth.org) is a Catholic health ministry dedicated to improving access and delivering quality care particularly to those persons who are poor and vulnerable. This commitment is demonstrated by the $484 million provided for community benefit and care of the poor last year. With national offices based in St. Louis, Mo., and assets of $10.6 billion, this healthcare leader is the nation’s largest nonprofit health system and has more than 100,000 associates working in health facilities in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
About Zix Corporation
Zix Corporation (ZixCorp(TM)) is a global provider of e-messaging management and protection services. ZixCorp offers a portfolio of managed on-site and hosted e-messaging solutions to protect organizations from viruses, spam, and electronic attack, while delivering the ability to enforce corporate policies and securely send to anyone. ZixCorp’s advisory services and secure e-messaging solutions enable organizations of any size to streamline operations, avoid obsolescence, mitigate risks, and leverage the cost and time efficiencies of e-messaging. For more information, visit www.zixcorp.com.