The IT of Things: Building Technology Infrastructure for Modern Healthcare
With hospital cyber-attacks on the rise, it’s more important than ever for hospitals to review their technology infrastructure and security. IT is vital for rural health, and not just because of the security of patient information. Technology improves efficiencies, the patient experience, and communication throughout the organization.
Teledigm Health is committed to expanding services for continuous advancement of healthcare in rural communities. Earlier this year, we announced our partnership with Five Nines to deliver comprehensive IT services to hospitals and clinics. We recently spoke with James Bowen, Founder and CEO of Five Nines, and Andy Whitney, Teledigm Health’s Director of Virtual Platforms. They provided insight on how IT can prepare facilities for the present and future of healthcare.
Optimizing Security and Efficiency
Cyber-attacks on hospitals are occurring more frequently. How does Five Nines address these situations?
Bowen: “Five Nines began our services within the healthcare space over 15 years ago. Throughout that time, we’ve worked with hundreds of healthcare organizations and created best practices surrounding cyber threats, invested in the right technology for healthcare institutions, and worked through incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity.”
“Our partnerships include both sides of support – technical and non-technical. Our account management team works alongside the support team to understand the EMR, the lines of business applications, where data is stored, the infrastructure, the process in which support staff use, and all aspects of IT. This allows us to ensure proactive security best practices are implemented across the board. We also employ a full-time HIPAA Compliance Specialist who evaluates policies and procedures for our healthcare partners to verify compliance with both HIPAA regulations and security expectations.”
What sets you apart from other providers? How does Five Nines’ staffing and support model differ from other outsourcing models?
Bowen: “The Five Nines support model is unique compared to other managed services providers because we don’t just supply a support desk. Every one of our partners is assigned a dedicated Primary Engineer on day one, and this person is their primary contact through the duration of the partnership. That engineer works with a team of Field Engineers who go on-site and build relationships with our customers while remediating technology issues.
“Our support model not only provides a dedicated and continuous engineering team, but also allows for 24/7 support from all teams in our organization, including Tier 3/Security, Backups, Account Directors, Procurement, and VCIO. While we do have a Support Desk, it’s not what sets us apart from our competitors. Our Primary Engineering Model has become a staple of healthcare IT in Nebraska through our partnerships.”
Whitney: “The most impressive aspect of your model is that you cover all aspects of IT. I think the advantage of the Five Nines model is that facilities don’t need as many onsite folks. They can have someone to handle the local aspects. So, it helps them maximize their IT investment by having the local staff be the experts on the things that can be handled locally, whether that’s an embedded person from Five Nines or local staff.”
“But then to have those onsite people be able to pick up the phone and have someone look at an issue for them is a great resource. And because they’re not having to hire additional IT experts full time, there’s a lot of advantage to that.”
“You even take an extra protective step by providing a HIPAA compliance specialist who audits and evaluates policies and procedures to ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations. That’s a valuable resource for hospitals.”
Powering Healthcare through Partnership
Why choose Teledigm Health as a partner for your IT Services?
Bowen: “Like Five Nines, Teledigm Health has a strong reputation within the Midwest of providing a service at a premium level. You centralize business needs into one partnership so that healthcare organizations can trust in the dependability of multiple business functions while being outsourced and can rely on the Teledigm team to facilitate successful partnerships.”
What are some of the advantages of the partnership between Teledigm Health and Five Nines that will benefit facilities?
Whitney: “We recognize that IT is a challenge. Hospitals are totally dependent on technology now. Everything is electronic. If the computer doesn’t work or the printer goes down, it’s a challenge.”
Bowen: “Exactly, and when you have telemedicine within your organization, having the cart operational to provide telehealth 24/7, if needed, requires a strong IT partner and infrastructure. Having an organization like Five Nines – who is not only familiar with the technology on telemedicine carts, but also has more than 15 years of experience working with healthcare organizations and understands the intricacies of healthcare – provides a level of assurance of quality and availability other organizations cannot provide.”
Whitney: “Another advantage that this partnership provides rural healthcare is access to that deep bench of knowledge and talent, which isn’t always easy to find in full-time IT employees. Even the best IT professional can’t specialize in everything from networking to cyber security. Our partnership with Five Nines allows us to offer this really well-rounded solution of not just clinical, but support services, to help that hospital have a better return on investment, and for us to say we’ve got you covered here.”
Reaching an ROI
Budgets are often tight for rural hospitals. Why should they invest in IT services?
Bowen: “Rural hospitals are being targeted with ransomware more than any other organization because of the sensitive patient health data they have. Security is just one component of investing in IT. There are also questions of efficiencies that technology can provide – meaning you can see more patients, work within your EMR more efficiently, and provide a better technology experience for your physicians and support staff.”
“And investing in IT doesn’t necessarily mean having the most expensive equipment just to have it. Investing in IT means you are investing in securing your patient data, providing the resources that your support staff need to do their jobs, and controlling technology expenses by strategically planning through a defined stack of infrastructure.”
How does Five Nines’ IT services improve hospitals’ bottom line?
Bowen: “When you look at the expenses of a Managed Services Provider, it’s a very small percentage of the overall technology investment for healthcare entities each year. Our Primary Engineers and Account Directors are trained to look at 36 to 60–month budgets and provide quarterly updates on the health of the infrastructure. This includes warranties, end of life dates, and replacement dates of hardware. As an organization, we don’t believe in surprises when it comes to our partners’ bottom lines, and by facilitating the overall technology spend of an organization, we help evaluate and assess all areas that are receiving a percentage of the total budget.”
Whitney: “That budget flexibility is going to be essential for rural hospitals. And if there is a cyber-attack or ransomware, IT services would pay for itself very quickly. Because not only can we rapidly deploy a team if we have to, but the hours it takes to recover from something like that are just incredible. If you have a one or two-person shop, you have a really hard time recovering from that. If you don’t have something like this in place already, you’re pulling in experts that cost hundreds of dollars an hour. There’s a pretty quick return on investment, and a lot of prevention work too because they can help make sure things are in place to prevent things like that from happening. If you prevent one attack, it’s safe to say it will pay for itself.”
Looking Forward to the Future
What role will IT play in the future of healthcare?
Bowen: “We’re living in a virtual world; healthcare organizations need to embrace it. Consumer behaviors are changing, and they’re expecting flexibility in their treatment plans. We anticipate telehealth and telemedicine continuing to rise in popularity. With that, hospitals and clinics need to have a solid technology infrastructure in place in order to keep systems secure and allow physicians and support staff to efficiently continue to provide care.”
Whitney: "I see it becoming more critical as more technology is involved. Even patient registration. You’re signing a laptop, not paper. Everything is connected now. Images, EMR, all of it is connected. IT is a critical factor to a facilities success.”
There’s a wide-range of benefits to investing in your IT capabilities. Even if your budget is tight, there are a variety of tiered options to find support that fits your bottom line.
If you’d like to explore options for your healthcare facility, connect with Teledigm Health today!
