Do you run a healthcare business? Do you care about patient satisfaction and positive experiences for them? If you answered yes to the above two questions, you are in the right place. Additionally, does your healthcare organization have an IT department? In fact, most small to medium-sized healthcare businesses do not have their own established IT departments. Having one person who runs IT services is not the same as having an IT department. If you haven’t thought about outsourcing your IT services with managed IT, then you should think twice, especially for security reasons.
We will tell you more about managed IT services and how your organization can benefit. Essentially, managed IT services can help your business for the better through digital transformation, so let’s learn how and why.
- What are Managed Services in Healthcare?
- How is Technology Used in Healthcare Management?
- Why is Digital Transformation in Healthcare Important?
- What Technology Trend is Currently Transforming Healthcare?
- How is Information Technology Transforming Healthcare?
- What is a Managed Service Provider in Healthcare?
- Healthcare IT Support Services
- Why Healthcare Companies Need Managed IT Services
- How Emeritus Can Help Healthcare Organizations
What are Managed Services in Healthcare?
Within healthcare, managed services refer to any subset of services managed by a particular entity or area. We know how managed services in general could apply to human resources, payroll, accounting, finance, and more. This term could apply to other industries, too, but in this case, managed IT services refers to an outsourced, external company operating IT services for all your healthcare business needs including cybersecurity. Despite what most organizations think, IT services encompass a lot. Therefore, handing off what typically takes an entire staff department to do to just one person is not a smart business move. Healthcare companies already have enough on their plates to manage patient care and satisfaction. Why would employers in the healthcare industry want to burden overworked employees with more duties when staffing shortages are at an all-time high?
Managed IT services can help be part of the solution to this ever-growing problem in the American healthcare system. So, if you are not a large enough organization to house an internal IT department, let’s learn how you can outsource IT needs for affordability, ease, and a technology approach that helps grow your services. Even when budgets are tight, as they almost always are, an investment like this one is not an opportunity to be missed. Smart business decisions like outsourcing IT ensure your cash flow goes into doing things correctly the first time with a strong intentional purpose.
How is Technology Used in Healthcare Management?
In modern times, technology dominates every industry – healthcare is no exception to any other industry. Electronic health records, patient portals, telemedicine, virtual pharmacy refills, and more – these examples are just a few of the ways that technology is used within the current healthcare industry.
Now that all information can be recorded, stored, and tracked online, there is an increased need for HIPAA compliance and the security of patient records. Whether you are moving to these new technology systems and standards or have already done so, it doesn’t just end with implementing and using of them. IT and software programs require continuous monitoring, maintenance, support and prevention from cyberattacks, all of which an outsourced company can provide you (within the same package). These services help you provide your patients with the care and support they deserve and need to rely on your healthcare organization for care and confidentiality. Technology is at the heart of digital transformation within healthcare, and this topic will be important for a while. Keep reading to learn more about these technologies and how your business can stay ahead of the curve for success.
What is the Importance of Digital Transformation in Healthcare?
Imagine you enter a doctor’s office and everything is filed away in locked cabinets behind a door or counter that only employees have access to for security. This is pretty hard to imagine, especially for those born in the 2000s or later because of how times have changed. The above example was perhaps more reflective of healthcare organizations 10 or 20 years ago, but now, in 2022, when you go to the doctor’s office, everything is electronic.
Provide Easy Access to Patient Data
Despite having human care, all of the processes are automated. First of all, you may notice that check-in is on a computer. Then, when the doctor comes into your room to see you, you will no longer see them hold a paper file and or pen. They instead come in with a tablet with your patient portal loaded and ready to be updated. That same patient portal will be available to you before you even get home from the appointment. What’s more, it will include that visit’s notes, prescription, and other pertinent information necessary.
The beauty of this digital transformation is that everything is now immediate. Your prescriptions get sent off and filled right away, you can access your own records at home when you need them, and you can virtually see a doctor if preferred. Healthcare access is completely different now than ever before, especially with the help of healthcare managed services.
Prepare Healthcare Providers for Challenging Situations
The COVID-19 pandemic did not help with slowing these digital transformations down. Moreover, it had quite the opposite effect. Patients were only seen in person for medical emergencies and preventative care visits were postponed for about a year when the pandemic first hit in 2020 to protect healthcare providers and patients. This meant that increased demand for telehealth services and visits skyrocketed, forcing many healthcare organizations to scramble to set up the infrastructure to provide such services.
Additional challenges then presented themselves, especially for those patient groups not tech-savvy or comfortable with the idea of such private information being uploaded and accessible online. Another consequence of this healthcare hiatus for routine and preventative care is that people were behind in appointments and visits, causing a backlog of those who needed care on top of the numerous pandemic victims. When was all of this going to end? No one knew the answer to that then, and only now is it clear that these problems will continue for a while. Thankfully, IT solutions drivers were at the forefront of making technical improvements so that all of us healthcare users and providers could benefit.
These kinds of technological improvements are what better the system overall and boost patient care and satisfaction. However, they are not improvements when they make the users’ lives more difficult as a result of cybersecurity measures. This means that managed IT services can help your business implement cohesive IT systems. Managed systems can also help provide necessary training, installment updates, and customer support. These may be aspects your one or two-manned IT staff most likely won’t have the capacity or knowledge to complete. Therefore, investing in a quality service that can support every single one of your business’ needs is critical.
What Technology Trend is Currently Transforming Healthcare?
Let’s elaborate a bit more on current technology trends that are transforming the healthcare industry. As one example, electronic health records (EHR), have been transforming healthcare for a long time now. Business outcome goals also drive income revenue, and patient-centered care has been at the forefront of healthcare for the last 10-20 years. Technological innovations and information technology(IT) play a huge role in the source and development of online resources to connect patients and providers globally. All of this is to say that digital transformation strives to serve patients the best care wherever they are at, not just when inside your physical office. Digital transformation efforts work to eliminate barriers to healthcare access and improve the patient experience overall. These trends of working on expanding access and improving patient care are prevalent in the healthcare industry.
How is Information Technology Transforming Healthcare?
Everyone benefits when healthcare providers can focus more on their stakeholders’ needs while the IT services that support both your organization and care are focused on those requirements. Information technology is transforming healthcare because it frees up time and resources for patient care so that patients are at the focal point of an organization and the outsourced IT services can be managed from afar by experts in the field. Plus, information technology is constantly changing – why spend even more time researching and trying to be up-to-date on these changes when you could have a team of specialists to do that for you? As changes and evolutions are made, solutions and cybersecurity concerns become increasingly complex. Healthcare providers shouldn’t worry about these things when they can focus solely on patient care.
What is a Managed Service Provider in Healthcare?
A managed service provider in healthcare technologies can set up your infrastructure for technology, maintain and protect the infrastructure, while providing updates for devices. They also provide support for both the implementation and administration, as well as client use. With managed IT solutions, you can say farewell to an outdated system and welcome success in using effective technology. A managed service provider will ensure you are relying on a quality team of experts within the area you need it, so let’s dive right into healthcare IT managed services and digital transformation.
Healthcare IT Support Services
Besides telehealth and patient portals, there are many other aspects to information technology as well, like:
- Medical devices
- Computers, tablets, and other devices used in physical medical offices/spaces
- Compliance with federal regulations
- Increased security to maintain patient/provider confidentiality
- Software upgrades
- Integrations with many systems and facilities
As noted, your team has enough on their plate to manage care and patient services. It is true that IT support is a portion of those patient services. However, that doesn’t mean your team has to carry the brunt of these digital transformations. That is exactly the purpose of IT support services. Just because your team isn’t big enough to have its department doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have that support.
Why do Healthcare Companies Need Managed IT Services?
It is more expensive to have and correct errors than to do it right in the first place. The journey of digital transformation may be long, but the impact will be worth it in short and the long term, which is why healthcare companies need managed IT services. Without them, your staff is drowning in extra, unnecessary work and your patients suffer the consequences of your lack of worthy investment strategies. Investing in managed IT services is a commitment to your patients and employees all at the same time.
Managed IT services are beneficial for your organization because they:
- Help you save money
- Decrease unnecessary time spent on IT-related needs
- Provide customer support for both your organization and your patients
- Set up an entire infrastructure system for your needs
- Maintain said system and provide ongoing system updates/support
- Keep your business up to date and ahead of competitors in IT resources
- Understand compliance regulations and support patient data confidentiality
- Support services and cybersecurity efforts to protect patient data
- Enable healthcare organizations to focus on healthcare and healthcare only
- Centralize technologies and innovate through cloud-based IT
- Provide digital transformation you never knew you could achieve or needed
- Are professional services designed for this purpose
While all these factors are important, let’s focus on what cloud-based technology is all about. Many IT solutions focus on websites, apps, and downloads, but cloud servers are an option for your IT needs, too. Storing things on a cloud can be a secure and efficient solution for your IT needs. This is also something an outsourced provider can help with. A cloud is essentially a different way of saying over the internet. Therefore, what makes the cloud an efficient solution is that if servers or devices go down, the cloud doesn’t! Keep this feature in mind as you begin your planning stages.
Don’t wait to get started, it’s time to outsource your IT with healthcare managed IT now!
Emeritus Can Help Healthcare Organizations
Emeritus Clinical Solutions can help you and your healthcare company with all managed IT services and needs. As our name implies, we are a solutions-based company. No matter the size or technologies used, all healthcare organizations can benefit from outsourcing and consulting with professional IT specialists to manage and maintain their services. Think of the success your business could have if you could devote more time to improving the patient experience. Don’t fall behind the curve; use managed services. Technology changes every day, and there is no reason to stress about keeping up with it. That is why we are here for all IT management services both, cloud-based and not. We specialize in helping small and medium-sized healthcare businesses get an IT system up and running efficiently.
From customized plans to individualized implementation, our team of experts can help plan and identify the best Emeritus based on your needs and wants. Emeritus offers reliability, quality, security, that service healthcare organizations can count on. Learn more about what we can do for your healthcare organizations through digital transformation. Contact us today.
