There are three forces shaping the healthcare industry today: regulatory compliance, EHR software, and cloud services. Since last fall's new HIPAA laws went into effect, physicians and their clinic administrators have faced even more pressure to align themselves with the expectations of their digital-savvy patients while maintaining the highest standard of safety for their data.
Fortunately, IT services companies have taken note of these demands and are offering highly secure cloud-based services to protect PHI and help medical practices remain profitable. For example, TekLinks currently offers a hosted EHR application option, or a fully hosted virtual desktop, complete with Microsoft Windows. This kind of EHR-as-a-Service, or cloud-based EHR, is a perfect example of how healthcare providers are turning to technology experts to manage and host their software, rather than keeping their data stored on onsite servers that they have to maintain themselves.
Why you should consider moving your EHR software to the cloud:
1. Increase your bottom line by reducing your total cost of ownership.
- Stop spending your capital on server upgrades to keep up with new EHR software versions every 3-5 years. Putting your EHR in the cloud means automated upgrades within a fully managed cloud environment. With cloud services, your bottom line will reflect the significant cost savings of evergreen technology over time.
- 88% of healthcare organizations say the cloud has reduced their IT costs by 20%.
- Your IT costs will become predictable each month with the cloud's simple "pay-as-you-consume" model.
2. Protect your practice and stay HIPAA compliant.
- A robust cloud-based EHR service will feature encrypted off-site cloud backups and end-to-end security measures to combat data breaches or loss.
- Before HITECH, the maximum penalty per year per provision was $25K. Now, the maximum penalty for a HIPAA violation is $1.5M. Can your practice survive a penalty that steep?
3. Experience flexibility with secure access anytime, anywhere.
- You can easily access your EHR app on ANY mobile device wherever you are. This is ideal for multi-location clinics and physicians who need to work from home or while traveling.
- Your patient data remains safe and secure with cloud services because the data is housed in a highly secure and reliable data center, rather than residing on your thin client or laptop.
- Stop worrying about data breaches due to device theft or loss (as well as the subsequent HIPAA fine).
4. Get out of the IT business and get back to patient care.
- While your cloud hosting provider manages all of your IT needs, from licensing updates to daily maintenance, you and your staff can focus on what you do best - serving your patients.
- Hosted EHR will work seamlessly with your other office devices, including printers, fax machines, imaging systems, and voice recognition applications.
- Around-the-clock support is just a phone call or click away. You can rely on the experts to make your technology work for you.
5. Trust in cloud-based business continuity when it matters most.
- With your EHR software running in the cloud with regular backups, you'll rest easy knowing that your data remains safe and accessible, even if your office experiences a period of downtime.
- A cloud-based disaster recovery plan with storage and backups is more reliable, available, and scalable than an on-premise EHR solution.
If you’d like to learn more about leveraging TekLinks cloud services for your EHR application, contact us today to speak with a healthcare technology expert.
Call 877.301.3125 or email info@teklinks.com.
