Why Your Healthcare Practice Needs a Managed Services Provider

Technology has made medical treatment more effective, health science research more in-depth, and healthcare readily accessible to patients. In fact, it’s inconceivable for healthcare practices nowadays to provide quality care without advanced IT. But as a healthcare professional, you shouldn’t be expected to be an IT expert yourself. You need to partner with a managed services provider (MSP) to optimize your healthcare IT tools.4

Maintain healthcare software

Inefficient billing systems, large amounts of paperwork, and slow-loading data centers negatively impact any medical practice. IT experts can keep your practice running smoothly by maintaining your medical software. Medical diagnosis software is an example of healthcare software that facilitates the efficient, automated, and real-time exchange of patient data among doctors and specialists in different practice areas. For instance, a cardiologist can enter findings on a patient’s cardiovascular condition into a medical diagnosis system, while the patient’s gastroenterologist can simultaneously enter the patient’s digestive symptoms into the same system. Other healthcare software such as imaging and visualization software enable medical technologists and clinicians to assess patients’ body systems accurately. Your healthcare practice can reap the benefits of healthcare software by having an MSP build a scalable, cloud-based infrastructure that meets your needs.

Build and maintain EHR systems

Electronic health record (EHR) software is a system designed to collect patients’ personal information, medical history, and medications. Healthcare staff — from nurses to technicians to medical assistants — use EHR systems to record and store information like patients’ vital signs, allergies, procedures undertaken, and more. Needless to say, it’s imperative that healthcare practices keep their EHR systems functioning optimally and securely. It’s essential to work with an MSP that can boost the integrity and security of your EHR systems so you can continue providing high-quality patient care.

Ensure healthcare compliance

Covered entities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) must comply with the legislation’s data privacy rules, including keeping protected health information (PHI) private and limiting its use to authorized staff only. Many healthcare organizations may find compliance difficult to handle by themselves. An MSP can ease these difficulties. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has notably eased certain provisions of HIPAA to give healthcare agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quick access to PHI. Violations for certain provisions of HIPAA’s privacy rule won’t incur penalties during the crisis. However, healthcare practices must still comply with relevant laws and regulations and stay informed about any changes in compliance policies. Partnering with an MSP lets your healthcare business share the responsibilities of compliance. An MSP can be particularly useful in managing users’ data access, running regular compliance audits, and security awareness.

Improve virtual care

The ongoing pandemic has revealed the weaknesses of healthcare systems around the world. Many hospitals are struggling to meet demands and handle unpredictable increases in the number of patients. While it may take some time for healthcare systems to restore normal operations, healthcare practices that have started to develop a digital strategy would be better positioned to stem the tide of the outbreak. Leveraging telemedicine, for example, would enable doctors and other healthcare workers to interface with patients virtually. This could be beneficial in cases where a visit to the hospital isn’t warranted or if a patient is advised to self-isolate. Healthcare businesses must also utilize mobile technologies that will let the workforce use cloud-based systems to access patient data, set voice or video appointments, and more. Mobile technologies can also reduce operating costs, as cloud-based infrastructures are typically provided and managed by cloud service providers. An MSP can help you maintain these systems and provide support to hospital staff on various uses of technology. Download our FREE eBook, Managed Services: Why They’re Perfect For Your SMB, to learn how your private medical practice or medium-sized hospital in Wichita can benefit from managed IT services.