The Virginia Department of Health Professions (DHP) plays a vital role in protecting public health by licensing and regulating healthcare practitioners across the state. DHP ensures that every licensed professional, from doctors to nurses, meets strict standards of care. There’s a lot of documentation that goes into these efforts, including license applications, case files, handling complaints and investigations, license removal evidence, records related to facility regulation, and much more.
Before Box, managing licenses and investigations was a slow, paper-heavy process. “It was very manual,” recalls John Jenkins, Cloud Solutions Architect at DHP, “lots of walking files around different offices, sending emails back and forth.”
The agency needed a better way to securely store sensitive documents, streamline communication, and take stronger advantage of all the unstructured data inherent in its organization. But simply digitizing paperwork was only the very first step in DHP’s journey to Intelligent Content Management with Box.
Key takeaways:
- Virginia DHP reduced manual paperwork with Intelligent Content Management, speeding up and securing licensing and investigations
- The agency unified content on one secure platform with unlimited storage and AI potential
- Virginia DHP lowered IT support calls thanks to easy access via Box Drive, Mobile, and Web
Manual processes, fragmented systems, slower work
At DHP, handling thousands of license applications once meant juggling piles of literal paperwork daily. Investigations into malpractice or compliance issues required teams to gather diverse and sometimes sensitive documents from multiple sources — often physically transporting files or emailing attachments repeatedly. This created version-control nightmares, security risks, workflow delays, the risk of errors, and information frequently getting lost in the shuffle.
As a state government agency, DHP also had to comply with stringent security standards for handling sensitive data, set by Virginia’s Commonwealth Security Group. The agency’s legacy systems lacked centralized control over document access and protection against accidental leaks. It needed a major security and compliance upgrade to stay modern.
The value of a workforce aligned around content
One of the initial perks of moving to Box was its unlimited storage capacity, which enabled DHP to use Box as a universal file repository. Critical to change management, Box Drive lets staff work with files as if they’re stored locally in Windows folders — which made it easy for employees to initially adjust. Jenkins says, “We could harness legacy programming knowledge, using Box Drive, without complex API integrations.”
External file sharing has been one of the most basic but valuable perks of using Box. Now, employees can share files with external stakeholders using a simple link share, instead of attaching a file to an email, which is both inefficient and unsafe. Jenkins says, “Box has enabled us to become way more paperless and the communication to flow very easily, right from our computers, without having to manually send something or walk something somewhere.”
The primary benefits of Box to our organization have been bringing collaboration and content under one roof.
Since implementing Box, DHP has cut down manual paperwork, dramatically accelerating licensing approvals and investigation processes. “The primary benefits of Box to our organization have been bringing collaboration and content under one roof,” says Jenkins. “It's really helped create more of an alignment across the enterprise in how things are done — and a common platform to do it in. The ease of use and the multiple ways you can go about using the content have been of real value.”
Beyond basic content management lies modern governance
One of the most meaningful use cases Jenkins cites is the application of Box to the agency’s most sensitive data. Because Box has been certified by the Commonwealth Security Group as being a valid tool to store and use content, Jenkins team doesn’t have to worry about what information gets put on Box. The agency’s use of Box is also FedRAMP Moderate authorized, so sensitive data is stored in a way that meets federal standards for security.
Box Shield helps ensure that certain content is not able to leave Box, either maliciously or just by error. And that's been great.
Box Shield is integral here, adding an extra layer of security and preventing unauthorized sharing or data loss. As Jenkins says, “Box Shield helps ensure that certain content is not able to leave Box, either maliciously or just by error. And that's been great.”
Robust security certifications and the extra security Box Shield provides have helped modernize DHP’s operations so the agency can tap into the full potential of Intelligent Content Management.
The future: Faster workflows powered by AI
With Box established as the central source of truth for content, DHP is now in a position to take advantage of AI advancements without worrying about content security. Some of the projects Jenkins has in mind include:
- Summarizing and reviewing previous case files to generate insights and standardize verbiage for future reports
- Statistical analysis of data sets that are problematic or tedious to review manually
- Knowledge raising from call logs and reports of interactions with customers, to better train staff and serve constituents in the future
These are all areas where Box AI Agents could come into play, helping DHP tap into the wealth of insights, information, and knowledge that already exist within their treasury of unstructured data. Jenkins imagines expanded use cases involving AI-powered reporting alongside advanced security tools like Box Shield Pro.
The higher quality of life Intelligent Content Management provides
For now, Jenkins says, “From the perspective of IT (and my daily life), Box has immensely reduced the user frustration of having to make calls to us for help. It’s an easy-to-use platform with multiple ways to access — you can use the browser, you can use Box Drive, you can use Box Mobile. That’s been a real help with customer satisfaction.”
You can use the browser, you can use Box Drive, you can use Box Mobile. That’s been a real help with customer satisfaction.
For agencies balancing heavy regulatory demands with limited resources, DHP’s experience shows how platforms like Box can transform cumbersome processes into streamlined digital workflows — saving time while safeguarding sensitive information every step along the way.
