IT Managed Service Providers offer numerous benefits to healthcare organizations including cost savings, flexibility and scalability, and performance. Cost savings are realized because the Managed Service Provider (MSP) carries the overhead of equipment, maintenance, and managing systems upgrades. Organizations find scalability in paying only for services as they are used with the flexibility to add or decrease contracted services as necessary. MSPs offer superior performance and reliability in networks that are readily available on a continual basis, eliminating downtime and providing disaster recovery protection against disastrous outages for organizations.
What is happening with “Cloud Computing?”
Managed Service Providers make services available through cloud computing. Today’s telecommunications infrastructure provides cost-effective connections to high bandwidth services, providing access to shared resources. Cloud computing can be thought of as a time-share IT department. The cost of quality equipment, competent personnel and computing power is shared with other organizations rather than consuming a significant portion of organizational budgets.
The most well-known and simplest definition of managed service is web hosting. But web hosting only scratches the surface of what MSPs can provide. Perhaps even more valuable, especially to healthcare organizations, is an MSP’s ability to offer application hosting such as email, word processing, spreadsheet and electronic health records, SQL database hosting and secure data storage.
Cloud computing is a fairly new term and is a rapidly growing trend. The 2009 Cloud Computing Trends Report produced by Hosting.com in February of 2009, reported that, “Compared to a September 2008 study by InformationWeek, the likelihood of organizations to deliver their IT services on a Cloud platform has doubled.”
Cloud computing is increasing global access to information, as well as providing platforms for collaboration. Rather than colleagues fighting disparate computer systems and software programs with unworkable interfaces, they can collaborate seamlessly through broadband connections. Access to software functionality and data is often accomplished with browser-enabled role-based portals by users who need little more in the way of skills than surfing the web. The learning curve for complicated software has been flattened.
In addition to widening access and simplifying use of computer power, cloud computing is improving mobile access to data. There is increasing physician adoption for handheld devices which allow access to pharmaceutical and other references. Administrators and other staff can perform business management functions from anywhere. More and more, health care providers will be un-tethered from desktop computing stations without sacrificing functionality.
Managed Service Providers open the door to leveraging the benefits of the virtual cloud. Many provide SaaS (Software as a Service) as a means of deploying computer applications. This is a more flexible and economical model than the typical purchase of software for each workstation in the organization.
What are pitfalls experienced with IT support by small and medium healthcare providers?
The limitation of traditional IT support experienced by small and medium healthcare providers is eliminated with the implementation of a managed service platform. The sheer volume of areas competing for the attention of healthcare IT personnel, the myriad of tasks to be done, and the amount of knowledge needed to provide support is overwhelming to many IT departments. Healthcare administrators can use IT personnel as IT knowledge managers to assist with the business management requirements of information instead of technicians tasked to keep systems and infrastructure working. This knowledge is needed in a number of areas that can and have become specializations such as network administration, data mining, reporting, data security, process design, and more. The struggle to stay abreast of new technologies can then be put in the hands of a MSP.
Many health care organizations, especially small and rural providers, struggle with a scarcity of knowledgeable and competent IT resources. Add in salary for healthcare IT personnel, and cost alone becomes a huge obstacle for these healthcare providers. The American Hospital Association reports that cost is the most commonly cited barrier to greater information technology adoption in hospitals.
And then there is the need for the healthcare IT department to be continually available and on-call, especially in the hospital setting. Quality health care cannot be delivered with intermittent computer services and network glitches. Managed Service Providers can provide 24/7 availability for issues resolution and with hardware redundancy for failure recovery, availability is built-in.
What additional issues does implementing an EHR cause?
Security is the top concern for healthcare organizations whether they have internal IT departments or outsourced Managed Service Providers. Privacy of personal health care records, whether paper or electronic, is a primary responsibility of health care providers. MSPs fundamentally provide secure network environments and focus on data security. A MSP’s data storage service is the most secure means of storage a small and medium healthcare provider can afford. No longer is data stored on vulnerable premise based systems or accessible laptops. MSPs offer data is storage in highly secure data centers with limited access, redundant network and power systems and 24/7 monitoring. The risk of highly sensitive data being stolen, misplaced or accidentally deleted is significantly less when an MSP provides the storage. Frankly, the cost of deploying the level of security available from a MSP is just too high for any small and medium healthcare provider to implement within their own private facility.
As the healthcare industry moves toward a consistent standard for communicating with one another, the interface of systems and programs becomes a huge issue. The lack of technical standards for transmission of data is a significant obstacle. Interoperability of systems allowing the sharing of records must be achieved for successful EHR implementation, yet the cost of constructing these systems are much too high for small and medium healthcare providers. Progress is being made in this area, thanks to recent government legislation and financial assistance for eventual adoption of electronic health records. However, the focus of these efforts are on the information technology adoption only. The financial impact to small and medium healthcare providers for the on-going management and maintenance of these highly technical information systems are a burden on already stressed organizations.
Health care organizations need a trusted, knowledgeable provider of IT services and support with an infrastructure capable of meeting their many complex needs. Managed Service Providers can fulfill this need.
Works Cited
“2009 Cloud Computing Trends Report.” Hosting.Com, 2009.
“Continued Progress Hospital Use of Information Technology.” American Hospital Association, 2007.
