Ariège Pyrenees Healthcare Group

The Healthcare Group of the Ariège Pyrenees, with the Intercommunal Hospital Center of the Ariège Valleys (CHIVA) serving as its primary facility, brings together multiple healthcare establishments across the Ariège region.

The organization operates on a shared IT infrastructure: the GHT supports more than 5,000 active users, with over 20% accessing the system simultaneously. The majority of whom are clinical staff.

For many years, the healthcare group has pursued IT strategies deliberately aligned with the operational needs of healthcare professionals, particularly:

• By providing clinical applications to staff on standardized workstations that are often shared across users
• By strengthening authentication to sensitive digital services through an approved authentication method (the smart card)
• By streamlining the user experience to enable session mobility and eliminate the need for re-authentication when accessing applications (SSO)
• By offering secure remote access built on the same principles (card authentication and SSO, including access to their work environment and institutional email)
• By automating user account management processes, directly linked to and synchronized with HR databases

From the outset, the healthcare group has consistently chosen to use the card exclusively in “contact” mode for strong authentication (two-factor: possession of the card and knowledge of the PIN code).

Each establishment within the group also handles the ordering and distribution of cards to relevant professionals through a centralized card “enrollment” service integrated into the establishment’s IT system.