A Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) is an organization which remotely manages your medical practice’s IT infrastructure. Providing your systems with secure and reliable diagnostics and strategy, it’s a worthy investment that will save your business time and money in the long run.
With the number of cyberattacks ever-increasing, especially in the healthcare industry, there’s no better time than now to research into whether a managed IT services provider is the right choice for your business’s IT needs.
So how can you know if your business needs a healthcare-focused IT service provider? Throughout this article, Tweak Your Biz will take you through the main reasons as to why you might require an MSP within your medical practice or healthcare group:
You Don’t Have a Cybersecurity Plan
Currently, medical practices are becoming a key target for cybercriminals. From phishing emails to ransomware, cyberattacks exploit vulnerable security flaws throughout IT systems and can result in your medical practice losing protected healthcare data and a hefty sum of money.
No matter what the size of your medical practice, it’s important that you can defend your medical practice against cyber threats with a healthcare-focused cybersecurity plan. And while some businesses feel they have the IT resources and know-how necessary to create an adequate cybersecurity plan that follows HIPAA regulations, many businesses do not have those resources and end up without a plan.
Not only will not having a sufficient cybersecurity plan compromise the information that’s on your systems, but it will bring your healthcare practice down quickly as a result. If your data is breached, you will be forced to spend a significant amount of money not just paying the hacker-issued ransom to regain your data but also in HIPAA non-compliance fees. Not to mention, your practice will likely earn a highly negative reputation leading to loss of patients.
This is where an MSP comes in. Giving you access to dozens of industry experts who are on call 24/7, you can rest assured that your medical practice’s cybersecurity plan can protect against malware threats and remain HIPAA compliant. When you use a healthcare-specialized IT service provider specifically, your practice’s exact IT requirements are taken into consideration, along with your specific budget and the timeframe in which you want to implement it.
Troubleshooting Technology is Getting in The Way of Running Your Practice
Often, medical offices won’t be able to function correctly if they are constantly having to deal with issues within their IT infrastructure. If you’re finding that a large proportion of your staff’s time is being spent in troubleshooting network issues or system errors all while attempting to remain HIPAA compliant, then consider hiring a managed IT services provider.
By outsourcing, you will be able to provide your medical practice with a dedicated staff who will support your practice and take on the responsibility of troubleshooting when needed. They also implement preventative solutions that will reduce IT issues and downtime. This will allow you more time to spend on other aspects of your practice so you can focus on providing your customers the best care possible.
You Have an IT Specialist on Staff, But He or She Is Constantly Overwhelmed
If your healthcare practice is constantly growing, one IT employee simply isn’t enough. Therefore a proactive solution is to outsource your IT services. Spreading the responsibilities across several team members, you can have the peace of mind that you need by knowing that all system areas are well-protected and maintained. If you only have one in-house IT specialist, chances are that as your business grows, he or she won’t be able to cope with the number of tasks required within the job scope.
With an MSP’s skills and expertise, you also won’t have to worry about hiring specialist staff within your organization, saving your business money in the long run. IT service providers offer a team of experts at the cost of around one employee salary, making it a cost-effective alternative to maintaining your own in-house IT staff.
You’re Growing Fast and You’re Not Sure Your Network Infrastructure Can Keep Up
As your business rapidly grows, it’s clear that you need a network infrastructure that fits your ever-changing needs. From being able to store more information to upgrading to new equipment, your practice will need professionals on hand to adapt your infrastructure as you grow.
In order to do this, your business will require two things: 1) As we’ve mentioned, an IT support staff that can handle the increasing needs of the business, and 2) a team of professionals that can create and oversee an IT strategy that specifically aligns with the goals of your business.
With a team of outsourced IT specialists, you can rest assured that your network infrastructure keeps up with the constant digital transformation that networks go through and that your team has the resources to handle such changes.
You Don’t Have Any IT Strategy Implemented
One of the main things medical practices mistakenly do when it comes to managing IT is to separate IT goals and strategy from business strategy. Your cybersecurity plan, maintenance, and efforts to scale IT should all be founded on strategies you have to propel your healthcare practice forward and make it stand out from your competitors. Within this industry, it’s important to showcase what makes your medical practice different and why customers should come to you.
Healthcare-focused MSPs offer a variety of managed services that help align your IT strategy with your long-term business goals. Not only will your IT specialists be focused on meeting healthcare IT needs, meaning they understand the industry specifics of your IT, but they will also be focused on meeting the needs of your business as it grows and scales.
They will be able to create an IT strategic plan that utilizes only the most state-of-the-art tools and processes available within the industry. They are dedicated to understanding how best to secure your systems in compliance with HIPAA and other security regulations in a way that also satisfies the demands of a growing business.
