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The Role of Managed IT Services in Healthcare

As a healthcare provider, technology plays a key role in everything you do, and it’s obvious that you need professional-grade support for that technology. But, finding good help isn’t always easy. So, we’ve put together a guide to help you think about how tech support can play a role in your organization and how you can go about getting the best support available. Managed IT Services To begin with, what are managed IT services? What does this term really mean, and how, specifically, does it apply to healthcare? At the most basic level, managed IT services is a group of support functions you get by contracting with an IT provider. There are a few important components baked into this definition. First, managed IT services come from a third-party provider. The term does not apply to anything you run in-house. If you have an IT department, the services you get from your own payroll would be supplemented or supported by managed IT. Second, managed IT applies to a whole set of services. You can get just about any support you need from the provider. Options range from help desk support to strategic planning, cyber security, equipment management, and more. Whatever you need in terms of tech support can fall under the umbrella of managed IT. The third aspect built into this concept of managed IT is adaptability. We haven’t defined a specific set of services. We’ve only identified that you can get what you need under a third-party contract, and that’s really the idea. Managed IT providers can and should present you with a range of options, with the ability to customize your service package in a way that works for you. How They Support the Healthcare Industry While we’ve covered the basics of managed IT, we still need to get into what that really looks like in a healthcare space. Some aspects of IT are universal. You need support that keeps your technology functioning. Security is important for any business or industry. Professional advice and planning prove invaluable for anyone. Specific to healthcare, managed IT hones in on a couple of things in addition to providing the generic basics. Your provider can help you maintain compliance (particularly when it comes to HIPAA), and they can help you better serve your patients. You’ll see how this manifests in several ways as we go through all of the essential services pertinent to health care. Enhancing Cybersecurity in Healthcare With IT Services Cybersecurity is one of those generic services that every business needs, but that means healthcare providers need it too. Cyber threats can bring down any workplace. Additionally, they threaten the integrity of your records and the privacy of your patients. A little later, we’ll talk about how that interacts with HIPAA more specifically, but for now, let’s cover cybersecurity essentials. If you want cybersecurity, you need prevention, monitoring, and response from your managed IT provider. Addressing Healthcare Cyber Threats To start with, you address cyber threats by auditing your existing IT ecosystem. While formal audits are common in managed IT, the process does not have to be formal if there’s a reason to avoid such an outlook. Regardless, your IT team needs a clear picture of what technology you have and how you use it. From that picture, they can look for vulnerabilities. As they assess the vulnerabilities, they can construct a plan that helps you use your technology safely and responsibly. Sometimes, this requires you to make changes to the specific technology you use. In almost all cases, you and your organization will have to adjust how you use technology. Cybersecurity best practices are often as powerful (if not more) as any security software or system. Continuous Monitoring and Management Once you have a good cybersecurity plan in place, you need consistent monitoring and management. No cybersecurity plan is foolproof. Continuous monitoring spots threats early and helps you prevent and mitigate fallout when your organization is the target of malicious behavior. Paired with continuous monitoring is the response plan. There’s little point in spotting a threat if you can’t take action once the threat is identified. For that, your managed IT partner should spell out for you what the response looks like, all of the pertinent roles to play, and what you should expect going forward. The language here is a little generic because responses have to vary according to the threat. If someone tries and fails to reset a password in your system, that’s usually an easy remedy. If an attacker manages to lock out all of your data with ransomware, then you're facing a larger response and more pain points along the way. The bottom line is that your IT provider should be prepared for the full range of threats, and you should know what to expect in any of those kinds of situations. Supporting HIPAA Compliance With IT Services So, planning, monitoring, and responding form up the core of cybersecurity, but none of that touched on the specifics of HIPAA. As you already know, HIPAA requirements are unforgiving. Mistakes in this area can lead to hefty fines, and you can even face jail time for severe enough infractions. How does your managed IT provider fit into all of this? Role in Ensuring Compliance For starters, you need a provider that is steeped in HIPAA knowledge. Any competent IT provider can lead you to good general cybersecurity, but you have to meet clear regulatory mandates as a healthcare provider. If your managed IT provider doesn’t know those regulations well, it’s a recipe for disaster. An informed provider will help you with compliance in a couple of ways. For starters, when they run their audit, they’ll take special interest in how you manage access and control of patient files. Since the bulk of HIPAA revolves around patient privacy, your provider will ensure that you are restricting access correctly in order to maintain compliance. Hardware and software audits spot and resolve unintended infractions to keep you out of trouble. Compliance-related IT Services Even if your foundations are good, cyber attacks can violate patient privacy, and that can put you at risk. Compliance-related IT services take extra measures to keep files secure. This includes file security services, backup services, audits, and disaster recovery services. Again, the specifics vary because so many scenarios are possible, but the gist is simple enough. Compliance-related IT services provide traditional security support while emphasizing techniques and tools that help you keep in line with HIPAA Cost Management and Efficiency With IT Services While that covers security and compliance, a healthcare provider needs more from their IT. Next up is cost management, and this is one way where IT services can help you improve patient outcomes. Any time you can save money on technology and tech services, you gain resources that you can put back into patient care. Reducing Operational Costs The first way your managed IT provider can help you control costs is by auditing your system (and yes, this audit can combine with your security audit). When they have a full list of all of your hardware and software, along with vendors and use cases, they can attack inefficiencies with vigor. Almost inevitably, they will find choke points in your workflows that relate directly to technology. With consolidation, targeted upgrades, software switches, and workflow management, they can help you resolve issues while spending less money now and over the long run. An easy example highlights the idea. Suppose you have multiple providers in a single facility. Regularly, they need to print documents for patients, ranging from consent forms to test results. Each provider has an office with a printer, but you find that supporting different printers across different providers in a variety of setups actually wastes a lot of time, energy, paper, ink, and money in general. Your managed IT provider can centralize your printing, reducing the amount of support you need for printers while putting every office on a more efficient system. You save time and money across the facility, both in the near and long term. Improving IT Infrastructure Reducing costs through efficiency is only half the equation, though. Your IT provider can also help improve your infrastructure. This can help with workflows, allowing you to see patients faster while providing better care overall. An easy example is with a network upgrade. Many offices have dated networking infrastructure. Your provider can map out a cost-effective upgrade that helps all of your technology communicate faster within the office. It can help you with patient check-in, records management, follow-up communications, inter-office communications, and more. While you are investing in your IT infrastructure, it’s a targeted investment that helps the office run better. You can ultimately save money on day-to-day operations, and you might be able to serve more patients daily. The result is better for you and the patients. Selecting a Managed IT Service Provider Managed IT providers offer a lot in the realm of healthcare. You know you need good support, so the natural question arrives. How do you pick the right provider? Let’s break that down into two sections, criteria you can analyze and questions you should ask any prospective provider. Criteria for Selection The criteria are pretty simple. Make sure any provider you consider can meet this minimum checklist: Vertical knowledge. They need to understand HIPAA as well as healthcare workflows and needs. This is the most important consideration. Sufficient support. You need support when your facilities are open. That might mean 24/7 support, or it might mean traditional 9 to 5 support. On-site work. You need a provider who can physically come to your location to resolve issues. Proactive services. Cyber monitoring, auditing, and strategic planning all fit in this category. Make sure they’re proactively taking care of your needs. Hardware and software. Some IT providers specialize in one or the other. You need an omni-specialist. Vendor management. They can help you keep track of your technology vendors. This would include internet service, software subscriptions, and the like. Accountability. Lastly, what happens when things go wrong? How do they take care of you? They should have insurance and resolution statements in their contracts that protect you from IT problems. If other, specific criteria matter to you, feel free to add them to your list, but don’t settle for a provider that falls short on any area above. Questions To Ask The criteria checkers are an important place to start, but at the end of the day, you want an IT provider who can work well with your organization. To get to that, it helps to ask some grounding questions. These questions are designed to help you get to know a prospect’s style to see if they’re a good fit: How many clients do you have? Can I talk to them about their services? How do you structure contracts? How can you customize your contracts to support my organization? What guarantees do you offer with your services? How do you resolve contract or support disputes? How much of your service is onsite vs remote? Can you teach things to my staff? How do you plan for and resolve emergencies? Who will be my point of contact? How many people will work on my account? How do you manage access to my technology? These questions should get you started. Feel encouraged to ask any more that come to mind. Getting Started With MainSpring MainSpring is a managed IT provider with years of vertical experience in healthcare support and HIPAA compliance. Contact us to start a conversation and see exactly how we can help you.

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Understanding HIPAA Compliance for Healthcare IT Systems

For many, working in healthcare is a dream. You pursue the career because you believe in it. It provides rewarding experiences and promise as a long-term occupational pursuit. But, even dream jobs come with baggage, and in healthcare, most of that baggage is tied to rules and regulations. While these rules are certainly important, keeping up with everything can prove a challenge. In some cases, the greatest challenges come from regulations that really extend outside your expertise as a healthcare professional. We’re talking about HIPAA and the long list of requirements surrounding your technology. It’s a lot to learn, but you’re also directly responsible for compliance. With that in mind, this comprehensive guide will get you well on your way to HIPAA-compliant operations. What Is HIPAA? The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was first published in the 90s. It has since seen plenty of updates, but the gist of the act remains intact: create national standards for health documentation. Those standards cover a lot of ground, much of which aims to ensure the accuracy and integrity of medical records. Other parts of HIPAA focus on privacy protection for patients. Among the latter rules is a specific section that looks at electronic documents and communication. That section is known as the Security Rule, and it more or less tells healthcare providers and medical professionals how to secure their records. The Security Rule is the primary focus of today’s discussion. As we go through it, you will learn the essentials of what HIPAA compliance entails, why it matters, and how you can successfully live up to the regulations. Why Is HIPAA Important? Remember that HIPAA was developed to set standards for records integrity. HIPAA protects patients. If records are not maintained accurately and reliably, medical mistakes happen. Patients may directly receive harm as a result. Considering that medical malpractice is a leading cause of death in the United States, record integrity holds paramount importance in healthcare. Beyond that, protecting patient information and securing privacy also merit national standards and the stark attention of individuals in the medical field. Health information has been and can be used for harmful discriminatory practices. Also, it’s one of the most personal bits of information that exist. Following HIPAA ensures that you are up to national standards and taking reasonable measures to protect such personal information. This builds patient trust and confidence. Last, but often most compelling, HIPAA violations come with steep penalties. You can incur up to $50,000 per violation and time in prison. This is not something to take lightly. HIPAA Compliance Requirements HIPAA and the Security Rule cover a lot of ground, but you can break all of the rules into four general rules: • Ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all electronic health documents • Identify and defend from threats reasonably anticipated • Protect against improper disclosures • Ensure that all employees comply. In greater detail, these ideas fall into two categories: protecting information and creating and maintaining secure systems. Protected Health Information Protecting health information boils down to access and control, and that begins at a physical level. Random strangers should be physically impeded from touching devices that have direct access to medical records. This is why such devices are behind counters, closed doors, or other barriers that keep them out of common touch. More than that, workstations and sensitive devices need proper security in the ways they are stored. They should be under supervision or behind a lock when not in use. Once physical security is in place, digital security still matters. Access control is an entire branch of cybersecurity that limits who can access what information within a network. Health providers need to maintain such systems so that unauthorized persons cannot access records. Additionally, authorized persons should not be able to access health information beyond the scope of their roles. Privacy and Security Rules Secure systems are built by their rules. In a workplace, you can institute practices that improve security. People should not use personal devices to retrieve sensitive information. Records should only be transmitted over secure communication channels. Employees should not verbally convey sensitive information in unsecured settings. There are also digital rules that govern device behaviors. Devices can automatically encrypt records. Communication can default to a secure socket layer or comparably safe communication methods. Digital policies can ensure record integrity and automate access control to prevent unauthorized changes to documents. HIPAA does not expressly outline how you need to secure devices and records. Instead, you are responsible for understanding common risks and protecting against them. Risk Management for HIPAA Compliance Knowing your expectations certainly represents the first step in compliance, but you have a ways to go from there. The next step is creating a plan of action. For that, you need to conduct risk assessments and then implement security measures accordingly. Conducting Risk Assessments HIPAA directly requires risk assessments. Through these, you determine the likelihood and impact of risks to your digital documents and communication methods. Each risk determined to pose a reasonable likelihood of occurring must be countered. In order to counter reasonable risks, HIPAA requires that you choose security measures and document your plans of action. As an example, if you implement an encryption method for digital document storage, the method and type of encryption need to be documented and kept accessible in the case of a HIPAA audit (more on those later). The good news is that HIPAA risk assessments look like any other risk assessment in the cybersecurity space. The bad news is that the average healthcare provider lacks the IT expertise to carry this out independently. In short, you need IT support to properly assess risk. Implementing Security Measures Once your assessments conclude and you document your plans of action, they have to be carried out. This path is typically straightforward. You already drafted security measures. It’s a matter of living up to them. From the HIPAA compliance perspective, you are intended to maintain “continuous security” from the conclusion of your assessments. You are also supposed to provide a rationale for each of your security measures (which you hopefully answered when documenting your plans of action). Training and Awareness Programs for Healthcare Offices Automated practices offer a lot in terms of security and compliance, but there’s another element to consider. You have people in your organization, and they must act in compliance with HIPAA as well. All of the security features in the world amount to nothing if your staff creates vulnerabilities. Importance of Staff Training Anyone who accesses or handles health documents is responsible for living up to HIPAA standards. This does not mean that every assistant on staff has to deeply understand the technical protocols in play. Instead, it means they are responsible for understanding what kinds of documents are protected by HIPAA and the actions they are expected to take to protect those documents. In general, these actions include protecting screens from prying eyes, avoiding disallowed verbal disclosures, and following implemented security practices (like using a strong password for their accounts). Clearly, staff personnel need training. How can you expect them to know the rules and expectations without it? That’s obvious, but there’s another aspect many in the medical field overlook. User practices actually pose the top security threat for any organization. It turns out that 88 percent of data breaches are caused by internal employees doing something wrong. That’s true in medical facilities too. Teach your staff how to protect data. It’s the only way to stay in compliance. Developing Effective Training Programs That leads to the inevitable question: how do you train staff? There are many resources in place, but ultimately, you have to commit to an investment plan. It will take time and money out of your budget to teach everyone HIPAA compliance. You have to decide how much is reasonable. In most cases, outsourcing proves cost-effective. Seasoned experts can walk you through training best practices and even directly provide training to your organization. Even with outsourced training, one element remains under your control. Your organization will have to determine how it holds members accountable for receiving and utilizing training. HIPAA Compliance Audits and Penalties in Healthcare With a better understanding of how HIPAA compliance works and how you can face it, it’s time to talk about enforcement. HIPAA regulations are enforced almost entirely through audits and subsequent penalties. Preparing for Audits HIPAA is often enforced through audits. The goal of an audit is to find potential flaws or existing violations to point them out to organizations. Typically speaking, when problems are identified, organizations are given time to make corrections. To prepare for an audit, two things are necessary (assuming you went through the proper actions of risk assessment and prevention). First, remind staff of their responsibilities regarding HIPAA. Even if they all received training at some point, a few reminders for best practices go a long way. Second, double-check documentation. Ensure that your plans of action, justifications, and risk assessments are all up to date and readily accessible. Additionally, make sure your organization has been on top of self-reporting. When HIPAA violations are noticed within your organization, you can correct the problem and self-report. Doing so indicates that your organization follows procedures and works to stay in compliance. If known violations are not reported, you can expect trouble with your audit. Understanding Potential Penalties Any time medical records are shared improperly, you face a violation. Additionally, if your audit finds vulnerabilities and you fail to correct them, you will likely be penalized. Penalties range according to the severity of the infraction, the intent behind the action, and your efforts to take corrective action. The smallest penalties start at a $100 fine, and the most severe penalties can get up to $250,000 per infraction and 10 years or more in jail. Those extreme penalties only apply when the violator demonstrates criminal intent to sell health data. In general, if the violations are not deliberate, you get 60 days to take corrective action. Of course, violations are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, so keep that in mind. Get Professional Help With HIPAA Compliance HIPAA compliance is essential in any healthcare setting. While you can understand most of the rules and regulations, IT-specific regulations can prove harder to follow. Your best bet is to find a managed IT provider that understands HIPAA and can take care of most of it for you. MainSpring offers such services with a strong vertical expertise in healthcare and HIPAA compliance. Contact us to discuss risk assessments, HIPAA audits, staff training, and comprehensive services that protect you and your patients.

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