In Health-Care Push, Dell Takes Over IT For Seton Family HospitalsIn Health-Care Push, Dell Takes Over IT For Seton Family Hospitals

Dell, which in recent months has been ramping up its focus on the health-care and life-sciences markets, announced that it's signed it largest services deal to date in the health-care sector.

The customer, Seton Family Hospitals, which operates eight hospitals in central Texas and is owned by non-profit Catholic health system Ascension Health, isn't exactly new.

In fact, Seton has been a Dell customer for more than two decades, including Dell running Seton's day-to-day IT operations for the last six year. Seton's CIO for the last several years, including its current CIO Gerry Lewis, also happens to be a Dell employee.

However, the new six-year deal announced on Tuesday is an expansion of the relationship, with Dell taking over full management of Seton's IT infrastructure, said James Coffin, Dell VP and general manager of health care and life sciences, in an interview.

Prior to the new Dell pact, some of those services were provided to Seton via a Dell subcontractor, Atos Orgin, said Tom Gallagher, Seton senior VP of business development, in an interview. But now, more of those services will be provided to Seton directly from Dell, he said.

While neither party would disclose the specific dollar value of the Seton deal, Coffin said the multi-million dollar pact is the largest services deal that Dell has signed in the health sector to day. Indeed, the health care and life science sectors are "the largest burgeoning space in IT," today, he said, and one in which Dell is expanding its efforts.

While the health-care sector has long been an IT laggard, the push for nationwide adoption of e-health records and other systems is catching on. In fact, 72% of the health-care and medical companies that participated in the 2007 information 500 survey say they expect IT spending this year to exceed that of 2006.

Coffin joined Dell in January after spending about 15 years at IBM, where he also held the post of VP of health care and life sciences. In addition to Coffin joining Dell this year, another 75 people have been added to the company's health-care and life-sciences team in recent months, he said.

Dell isn't focusing it's efforts only health-care providers like Seton, but on the larger health and life science "ecosystem," said Coffin, including insurance companies and other payers, as well as pharmaceutical companies.

Dell has alliances to partner, support, and provides integrated health sector products and services with other vendors, including e-prescription and electronic health record software vendors like Allscripts and medical device makers like Siemens, he said.

As part of the services that Dell is providing Seton, Dell is consolidation Seton's two data centers into one and will deploy virtualization software to help consolidate servers, said Coffin. Dell is also involved in Seton's roll out electronic medical records software from Cerner, he said.

Among the hospitals that Seton operates in central Texas is the new Dell Children's Medical Center, which opened in July and was a recipient in funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. That 125-bed facility is fully digitized, wireless, and paperless, said Coffin.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation provided matching funding for the building of that facility, donating one dollar for every two dollars raised, up to $25 million, said Gallagher.

One of the primary reasons why Seton relies on a third-party provider like Dell for running the bulk of its IT operations is that it's easier for Dell to attract tech talent, Gallagher said.

"To recruit talented IT folk, Seton is in a highly competitive high tech market," he said. Dell is based in Round Rock, Texas, in the same central Texas region as Seton's hospitals.