Ellumen Inc., a trusted provider of healthcare IT services and solutions, has brought innovation to the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan by executing a successful dark launch—a Silicon Valley best practice for testing and deploying large web applications—on joint agency clinical systems. Dark launching deploys updates for complex, heavily subscribed web applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Ebay, and other tech industry leaders, but has not been used in the Federal realm until now. Ellumen’s first push to adopt dark launch is in line with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s goal to promote the benefits of Silicon Valley’s advancements within Federal agencies. During a press tour of Silicon Valley earlier this year, Secretary Carter announced his force of the future initiative that promotes two-way exchanges within the tech sector.
The overall trajectory for quality assurance and testing of federal health record-sharing initiatives has been positive. The enormous scale of clinical data transfer among the larger federal agencies, however, creates for software-intensive systems inevitable challenges that translate to delays and difficulties in providing healthcare services to our Armed Service Members. Dark launching allows a system with updates or new versions to get queries from real users in its production environment so pain points, or areas of the infrastructure that need attention, are exposed without causing delays or errors. Art Carroll, President at Ellumen Inc. says, “We are dedicated to bringing innovation to our work in the Federal space, and often that means borrowing, adapting, and improving practices from the best in the industry. In the case of dark launch, we saw a challenge encountered over and over in Federal systems that commercial counterparts in the technology industry have already tackled. Our goal is to provide a world-class system that is scalable, secure, and seamless. We intend to continue to bring the innovation of Silicon Valley to benefit government contracts through continual improvement, modernization of technology, and forging partnerships with commercial entities.”
The adoption of dark launch in VA and DoD Health Information Sharing Initiatives is one example of Government agencies striving to improve healthcare for Veterans and Armed Service Members. As the VA and DoD continue their impetus to adopt Silicon Valley innovations Veterans and dedicated Armed Service Members stand to benefit greatly. Ellumen Inc. is committed to assisting the Government in finding the best possible solutions that will have long-term benefits for Veterans. Carroll states, “Our investment in research and development, world-class laboratories, and senior engineers and scientists is indicative of our resolve to deliver groundbreaking products that make a difference in the lives of Veteran communities.”
For more information on dark launching in the Federal space, please see our blog post here.