Emma Mak • Staff Writer With tough times in healthcare expected to continue, a Managed Service Provider (MSP), can be your greatest ally for improving employee and patient experience and reaching new levels of IT efficiency.
These Are Challenging Times
It’s tough to hear forecasts for the healthcare industry and not picture dark storm clouds gathering. Filled with threats to access and quality of patient care, predictions say healthcare systems face billions in losses.
This dire outlook for healthcare stems from a set of intimidating issues:
- Staff shortages and rising labor costs
- Ongoing supply chain disruption and sourcing shortages
- New retail competition in healthcare (Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens)
- Chronic disease burden
- The end of some pandemic government funding
- Global inflation and looming recession
Higher Patient Expectations
To top these off, providers also must take into consideration a shift in patient expectations. By sheer necessity, healthcare digital transformation moved ahead by a decade in just a few months during the pandemic.
Healthcare consumers noticed the resulting personalized and convenient patient experiences while scheduling an appointment, processing insurance, and paying bills and one can hardly blame them for wanting that trend to continue.
The Remedy
With 58% to 68% of U.S. hospitals ending 2022 in the red, and up to 30% of rural hospitals at immediate risk of closing because of low financial reserves, how can healthcare providers hope to ride out the storm and even thrive?
Smart, strategic use of technology is a great place to start. A winning approach focuses on developing digital capabilities that boost patient engagement and enable strategic cost savings and back-office efficiency.
A Managed Service Provider for Better Patient and Employee Experience
When devices, applications, and networks function well, enabling a seamless workflow, there is less delay in appointments, treatments, procedures, and tests. This directly translates to a better patient experience and less frustration for your staff.
A managed IT services provider (MSP) can help with several aspects of your infrastructure and business — and ensure great technology experiences by offering:
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More Robust Security
Data breaches in healthcare are increasingly common and can endanger patients and financially devastate an organization. An MSP can work with your IT team to evaluate and improve your cybersecurity posture, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient information. -
Improved Operational Efficiency
Managed IT services can streamline healthcare operations by providing reliable and efficient technology solutions and monitoring your IT systems to identify and resolve potential issues before they cause problems. This proactive approach to IT maintenance can help avoid costly downtime and ensure that systems are running at peak performance. -
Better Employee Experiences
Providing the best technology for the job and minimizing technical hassles can help with the rampant burnout in healthcare today. By continuously measuring the quality of technology experiences for your medical and administrative staff across all their services, a managed service provider can use data (for example, from endpoint telemetry and targeted feedback) to determine the best enhancements for optimal employee experience. -
365/24/7 support to free up your IT staff
Healthcare providers always need access to excellent technical support, not just 9 to 5 on weekdays. Outsourcing support to an MSP gives your employees around-the-clock access to experienced, knowledgeable technicians. The right mix of self-help and remote or in-person support is cost-effective and ensures quick resolutions, reducing downtime and improving patient care. -
Tangible cost savings
In these challenging times, it’s crucial to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of patient care. A managed service provider can help with this in many ways, including reducing the need for in-house IT staff, minimizing costly downtime, and optimizing technology usage to improve productivity. An MSP’s close relationships with OEMs can also provide cost benefits. -
Increased compliance with regulations such as HIPAA
Adhering to strict regulations and safeguarding patient data is essential in the industry. By providing cradle-to-grave accountability, service, and disposal of devices in-house, the right MSP provides a single chain of custody for devices, helping you ensure compliance with regulations to avoid costly fines and lawsuits.
Compucom: A One-Stop Shop for all Your IT Needs and a Trusted Partner
A recognized MSP such as Compucom, with strong OEM relationships and a broad range of services, including professional services and IT staffing, streamlines and reduces costs for your organization.
By getting multiple services from one provider, you simplify IT and gain a strategic partner who has a deep understanding of your operations and can add value to all aspects of your business. Lean on us for all things IT and free your organization to focus on what’s most important — saving and improving patient lives.
