Oversight vs. Ownership: The Managed Services Model in Healthcare IT

One of the challenging industries is healthcare when it comes to managing and protecting essential information. The need to protect patient’s data is a critical wake of the increasing and rising security threats.

With increased digital technology and connectivity comes the increased exposure to cyberattacks that can impact a patient’s care delivery, safety, and privacy. Not just the healthcare providers lack essential technology and security expertise to develop and maintain an effective stance, but also lack the requisite budget and time to remain up-to-date on numerous threats facing their organization.

The need for premium security is turning healthcare provider to managed security service providers as a trusted partner to bridge the gap, augment IT teams, and provide round the clock security system monitoring and application management to help achieve their goals to enhance patient care delivery, privacy, and safety.

As providers realize the challenges, like premium skills shortages, tighter budgets, data proliferation, technology sprawl, and the rise in hostile threats have encouraged and accelerated the market of managed security services, they utilize some of the best business models.

What is a Managed Service Model?

It is a distinctive kind of outsourcing all your IT functions to the managed service providers. You can also state it as a fully outsourced model. The provider takes the technology decisions which are made under the set business parameters.

The remote monitoring and management of the managed service provider has many benefits, such as -

Risk Reduction - The managed service provider is liable to take all the risk within the model and treats the risk or issues that damage the technology in any way.

Fixed Cost - Since the model has a set budget, you will not have the room for a bargain, nor the payment fluctuates with time or range of service.

Knowledge Retention - The outsourced IT support and maintenance service provider is responsible for handling IT functionalities. Hence, there is no employee turnover. They are meant to keep the transparency of information as well as bring previous clients to your company through expertise.

Focusing on Core Business - The model of the managed service is designed to take all the critical tasks related to IT and free the employees to focus on the core business. Focus on the core business enables the scalability of the company by reaching the goal quickly.

Challenges of HealthCare IT Providers

Now, the real struggle arrives when the healthcare IT market has to deal with the cost and staffing implications. Additionally, the industry has to align with technology management, HIPAA security requirements, and undertake constant evolution of government mandates and standards.

As healthcare IT providers have become adept and expert in delivering organization’s need, hence providers have become more comfortable turning hosting, Application Support, DR, RCM, and other functions to HIT vendors.

Facing the cost pressure, HDOs are drifting towards outsourcing application support and maintenance services as a part of a managed solution for EMR or EHR transitions. As per the HIMSS Annual Workforce Survey, 60% of healthcare providers respondents indicated to outsource at least their IT staffing needs to a vendor or a consultant rather than hiring staff directly.

This has led them to overcome their challenge giving them a wide range of expertise with the ability to flex staff when needed while maintaining state-of-art technology to improve efficiency and drive cost savings.

A challenge with MSP model acceptance can be the lost sense of ownership over one’s application system. But, this isn’t like that most MSPs work remotely alongside the organization to ensure clear communication, understanding of expectations, and a level of transparency to overcome the very sight of loss of ownership.

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Mitigating Risks Through Managed Service Models

Through the broader spectrum of tools, resources, and relevant experience, MSPs can deliver a single-track focus on the service being provided at immediate client disposal. Many EMR vendors offer a managed service model allowing the vendor to assume the ownership of optimization and maintenance of their specific system. MSPs implement processes and systems to identify potential issues proactively while saving the downtime cost and the healthcare IT space, mitigating compromising of patient safety.

This statement is clear here, lower cost and a better outcome. Based on the 2015 year data, 90% of the hospital organizations state that they have experienced an almost immediate return on investment for IT outsourcing to an MSP.

You can also pick on a fixed-fee service model with an MSP to eliminate the overhead and unpredictability of the staff management, inclusive of overhead things like the training, turnover, and salary/benefits cost. Hence, a healthcare organization can focus more and better their care for patients.

In A Nutshell -

MSPs have the model that allows the healthcare service providers to upgrade their legacy application system. This eliminates the challenge and struggle of customizing EMR technology for any size organization with a long-term transition. The MSPs are adroit and flexible to take over the legacy application support letting the internal staff and providers train and take time to acclimate to new the new EMR technology as the rollout process.

Also, the transparency gives complete oversight to eliminate the sense of loss of ownership. However, MSPs model vary as per the needs of the organization — be it from full hands-on management or application to integrated services & assistance. Despite their level of control, healthcare organizations can surely benefit from the level of managed services.