As a healthcare provider, your primary focus is offering high-quality patient care. A managed services provider helps you handle your IT and cybersecurity systems, so you can keep your focus on your patients’ needs.
Over the past few decades, there has been a drastic shift from paper medical records to electronic health records. Switching to digital solutions has made it easier for healthcare organizations to manage patient data and operate more efficiently.
However, these digital solutions also present some unique cybersecurity challenges that could put both your business and your patients at risk. Here’s how outsourcing to a managed IT provider can benefit your healthcare business.
Key Takeaways
- Healthcare organizations are often targeted by cybercriminals due to the sensitive patient data they store in their systems.
- Managed IT service providers can help healthcare organizations implement cybersecurity strategies to protect patient health records and remain compliant with HIPAA.
- An MSP can also help healthcare organizations with time-consuming IT tasks like system monitoring, software updates, and more.
What Role Does Managed IT Play in Modern Healthcare?
The modern healthcare industry has gone digital. Patient health records are stored digitally, and providers use software programs to schedule appointments, bill patient insurance, and even make diagnoses.
With so many essential operations handled digitally, healthcare providers need reliable IT and cybersecurity support.
However, hiring an in-house IT team isn’t always cost-effective, especially for small practices. Additionally, in-house IT staff may not be equipped to handle the complex cybersecurity strategy that healthcare providers need.
This is where a managed service provider can help. MSPs provide IT and cybersecurity services on a third-party basis. They can help with time-consuming tasks like system monitoring and day-to-day tech support, giving your team more time to focus on the practice.
An MSP can also help you handle more complex tasks that you don’t have the expertise to handle in-house. For example, an MSP can conduct thorough cybersecurity assessments and implement advanced cybersecurity tools to prevent cyberattacks.
What IT Challenges Does The Healthcare Sector Face?
Healthcare providers have very complex IT and cybersecurity needs. This is because healthcare providers store health records and other sensitive patient information, which often makes them a target for cyber threats.
In fact, the healthcare industry consistently experiences more data breaches than any other industry in the United States.
Let’s break down some of the IT challenges the healthcare sector is currently facing.
HIPAA Compliance
In the US, any organization that collects protected healthcare information from patients must comply with HIPAA. This law is intended to keep sensitive health information private and safe.
To remain HIPAA-compliant, healthcare providers must put robust safeguards in place to protect against data breaches. This should include a multi-faceted cybersecurity strategy and incident response plan, as well as HIPAA training for all employees.
Appropriate cybersecurity measures for HIPAA compliance include:
- Installing firewalls
- Encrypting all system data
- Maintaining consistent access control protocols
Managed healthcare IT providers often have compliance experts on staff to help you navigate these challenges.
Preventing HIPAA violations is essential for the long-term success of your practice. The fines for HIPAA violations can range anywhere from $141 to more than $2.13 million, depending on the severity of the incident.
Consistent and severe HIPAA violations could also result in legal action against your practice and damage your reputation in the long term.
Cybersecurity Threats
Healthcare organizations and their business partners are at a particularly high risk for cybersecurity threats. Their systems are full of valuable patient information that hackers can use to conduct identity theft or sell on the black market.
Some common cybersecurity concerns in the healthcare industry include phishing, ransomware, DDoS attacks, and insider threats, all of which can lead to data breaches.
As healthcare practices expand their systems and take on more patients, it often becomes very difficult to maintain updated cybersecurity practices. As a result, many healthcare organizations have outdated systems that are highly vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.
While healthcare organizations are struggling to streamline and modernize their systems, hackers are constantly developing new strategies for accessing valuable patient information. Without reliable IT support, it becomes very difficult for healthcare providers to keep up with the changing threat landscape.
These challenges have led to many highly-publicized data breaches in the healthcare industry. The largest-ever breach in the industry was February 2024’s Change Healthcare breach, which disrupted healthcare operations across the country and exposed sensitive information for approximately 190 million Americans.
Downtime Risks
System downtime is frustrating for any business, but it can be particularly disruptive to healthcare organizations. If your system is down even for a few minutes, it could result in extensive disruptions to patient care and support services.
Doctors and administrative staff rely heavily on digital systems to schedule appointments, provide care, and bill insurance. When these systems are offline, operations come to a halt until the problem is addressed.
Additionally, downtime can leave healthcare providers vulnerable to cyber attacks and data losses. Even when systems are back up and running, it takes time to completely restore your IT infrastructure and confirm that your data has not been compromised.
This lack of business continuity can result in frustrated patients and damage your reputation.
How Do MSPs Address Healthcare-Specific Needs?
MSPs help healthcare providers address these IT and cybersecurity challenges, resulting in systems that are safer and more efficient.
Many MSPs already have experience with healthcare technology and compliance standards, and can provide industry-specific guidance that goes beyond generic technical support.
Here are some of the ways that healthcare managed services providers support their clients.
EHR Systems
An electronic health record (EHR) system stores comprehensive patient medical records electronically. If you’re currently using paper records, an MSP can help you conduct a digital transformation and switch to a secure EHR system.
Digital health records have extensive benefits for both providers and patients. EHR systems help healthcare providers operate more efficiently and make more accurate diagnoses, as they can access detailed patient health histories with just a few clicks.
Many EHR systems also allow patients to check their own medical records, providing transparency about past diagnoses, prescriptions, lab results, and more.
An MSP can help you select an EHR system based on your practice’s unique needs. Once your EHR system is up and running, they will help you implement access control, firewalls, and other measures to keep these records private and secure.
Additionally, MSPs can provide ongoing monitoring to identify any abnormal activity and prevent data breaches.
Telehealth Support
Many healthcare providers now offer telehealth services to make care more accessible and improve patient experiences. With telehealth services, doctors can connect with patients via video call, phone call, or live text chat.
An MSP can help you implement telehealth solutions that are secure and HIPAA-compliant. Telehealth services should be conducted through encrypted channels and using secure devices.
With telehealth services, doctors can reach patients that are unable to visit the office in person.
The practice took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many immunocompromised patients continue to rely on telehealth to minimize their exposure to illness. Many rural patients have also come to rely on telehealth appointments for non-urgent medical concerns.
Data Backup & Disaster Recovery
When you work with an MSP, they will help you schedule regular system backups for improved data security. If you do experience downtime, regular data backups will ensure that you do not lose any important files.
An MSP can also help you develop an appropriate disaster recovery plan. Even with a strong cybersecurity plan in place, data breaches can happen out of nowhere, which is why it is so essential for healthcare providers to be prepared.
With a detailed disaster recovery plan, your team can spring into action in the event of a cybersecurity incident. The faster you respond, the easier it will be to mitigate the damage and get your systems back up and running.
Staff Training
To keep your systems safe, your entire team needs to know how to spot possible cybersecurity threats in real time.
In particular, they should be familiar with access management best practices, as well as how to spot phishing and other social engineering attacks in real time. On top of that, healthcare employees need to be familiar with HIPAA requirements and patient privacy standards.
Your managed IT service provider can schedule regular staff training sessions to ensure your team is familiar with the latest cybersecurity threats and knows how to avoid them.
How Can Diamond IT Help Your Company Thrive?
Diamond IT offers managed healthcare IT services for providers and other organizations in the medical field. We provide help desk support, system monitoring, cybersecurity management, and more, taking time-consuming IT challenges off your plate so you can focus on providing better patient outcomes.
Our team is familiar with the unique IT needs of healthcare providers. We’ll help you build and maintain systems with operational efficiency, security, and compliance in mind. Get in touch with our team to learn more.