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When it’s time for healthcare providers to upgrade their health information technology (HIT) systems? Where do they start?
Before any serious HIT decisions are made, it is recommended first to evaluate how to best invest in a system environment and infrastructure.
The past decade of HIT regulations – most recently the 21st Century Cures Act – have made it clear that these solutions should be developed and implemented in ways that improve patient care, safety, and security. Hospital IT leadership is constantly being challenged to invest their dollars to meet those expectations while staying under budget. In the current market, cloud-based hosting IT services could be the answer for small and large hospitals.
Smaller hospitals that may lack the resources for in-depth HIT build-outs might find that handing the reins over to a third party can save them money over time. A cloud-based hosted HIT provider may also help larger hospitals reduce costs and free up time for internal teams.
While the immediate savings of hosting and managing a HIT infrastructure on-premise may seem attractive, future and unexpected costs can quickly add up. In addition to upfront equipment expenses, recurring maintenance and data security risks can take valuable technical and human resources away from more critical care delivery tasks.
For providers who want better to align their HIT infrastructure with today’s healthcare demands, here are seven key benefits a cloud-based HIT solution can offer:
Cost Savings
Cloud-based IT services managed by a third party can improve a healthcare organization’s return on investment (ROI) by relieving some pressures on internal IT personnel. With a reliable external team managing routine tasks that help maximize daily performance, a hospital is ultimately investing in their existing team’s ability to improve the quality of patient care and efficiency.
Cloud-based hosting services can help facilities cut costs such as:
Some of the top benefits that can come with a cloud-based hosting solution are enhanced security and speedy recovery in the face of disasters – those with human or natural origins.
Partnering with a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based hosting service means that hardware and software are provided and maintained on the hospital’s behalf. A healthcare provider also gains a certain level of confidence with a cloud-based solution. Experienced system engineers who are always on-call to ensure a hospital and its patients are protected can be reassuring.
With the rise in cyberattacks aimed at healthcare and the unpredictability of nature, providers cannot afford to cut corners when it comes to protecting patients and their data.
Increased Uptime
Cloud-based solutions are often powered by a private, high-speed, secure connection. Along with 24/7 system management and monitoring, a dedicated connection can significantly increase hospital HIT system uptime.
Partnering with a medical-grade data center host can also offer increased security with features like:
Experienced Staff
A HIT hosting partnership can effectively expand a hospital’s staff without the expensive investment of hiring additional employees.
Staff dedicated to managing and maintaining hospital technologies—clinical, financial, or otherwise— often require HIT specialty certifications. Adding or training certified IT professionals can create additional costs ranging between 30 – 77k per employee per year.
A cloud-based hosting vendor can also provide dedicated teams for HIT planning, implementation, training, and support. Shifting administrative duties to an outside hosting service is another way hospitals can help IT personnel enhance care delivery systems without adding employees.
A cloud-based hosting solution can be a strong source of resilience for hospitals facing catastrophic weather events. If a natural disaster physically damages an on-premise data environment, in many cases, that system can become inaccessible for an indefinite amount of time. Remote and cloud-based hosting can add an extra layer of security, helping ensure data availability via remote disaster recovery services.
Healthcare facilities that have experienced hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other natural disasters have quickly recognized the real-time benefits of a cloud-hosted IT system.
Regulatory Compliance
Managing an on-premise IT infrastructure requires consistent updating to ensure systems continually meet regulatory requirements. A hosting service can help ensure HIT regulation compliance is effectively handled, alleviating the burden on hospital staff.
Support and Training
Most hospitals and healthcare facilities working with cloud-hosting service providers benefit from a help desk that offers 24-hour support for routine issues. Hosted IT infrastructure service best practices should also include dedicated customer support contacts and the assurance of enterprise networking team availability.
By using hosted IT services, hospitals don’t have to struggle with hiring additional IT support members to troubleshoot basic server issues or respond to after-hours issues.
A properly implemented cloud-based HIT solution can help with a hospital’s day-to-day technology management while elevating care delivery and regulatory compliance. Managed by dedicated HIT specialists, MEDHOST’s cloud-based solution can help provide certainty and efficiency to providers needing to adapt to change quickly.
Hospitals and their staff have enough on their plate. Effective operations and improved care delivery can be easier to achieve when the time-consuming HIT system management is one less item to consider.
For more information on how MEDHOST’s cloud-based HIT solutions can help your facility, call us at 1.800.383.6278 or email inquiries@medhost.com.
