Blog | Metro Practice Management

Why IT Services are Needed for Medical Offices

Written by metropm | Jan 24, 2020 3:44:26 PM

Why IT Services are Needed for Medical Offices

Often, when thinking about medical offices and the services they require, one of the last things you may think about is an IT service plan. However, thanks to the advancement of technology, many offices are moving away from paper files. They are now embracing electronic medical records. This change opens up a real need for medical offices to examine their options when it comes to their IT needs. Here are some of the reasons why a medical office needs a monthly IT service plan.

Keep Your Office Running Efficiently

Problems with your computer hardware, software, and peripherals can turn your busy medical office schedule upside. An efficient office is one that's able to handle their patients in a timely manner, but computer issues can stop an office in its tracks. Patients that are unhappy with wait times and how efficiently their doctor's office runs will often seek out a new office that will better fit their needs. Having an on-call monthly IT services plan means that when something goes wrong, your office is able to quickly get a professional on the task of making it right.

Protect Your Billing Process

A unique part of a medical office compared to other businesses is the process of billing insurance companies and patients. There is a billing and coding process that requires specialized computer software and knowledge. Problems with the computer equipment can delay the billing process, and potentially cost your office revenue. Even if your medical office chooses to use a remote billing and coding service, your computers need to be able to send your patient information to the service. Any delays in the process of transmitting it to the service will delay payments further.

Update and Upgrade Your Computers Easily

Technology is always changing, and it can be hard to keep up on your own for your medical office. Utilizing a monthly IT service plan means that you'll have expert advice on the right updates and computer equipment to invest in for your office when you need it. For someone that doesn't have a background in IT, it can be hard to know what's necessary to upgrade and update. A professional on-call can help you to keep everything up to date to help you keep your servers, computers, and workstations secure.

Safeguard Your Patient's Information

Hackers are continually finding new ways to steal information and scam money out of people. The news is continuously showcasing stories about big corporations, towns, and even hospitals that are dealing with cybercrime. Cybercriminals may try to hack your patient information for identity theft purposes or seek easy credit card information. They may also try to lock you out of your computers to ransom your data back to you. A monthly IT service plan can help you better protect your computers and patient information safe from hackers as they will know the steps that are necessary to stay ahead of these types of scams and hacks.

Save Your Medical Office Money

It can be expensive to keep your own IT professionals on staff. There can be a great deal of overhead in keeping them employed, such as their salary, benefits, and other costs involved. In addition, do you have enough work to keep them busy for their entire shift if they are full-time? What happens if you choose to employ someone part-time, but a problem occurs when they are off? A monthly IT service plan means that you no longer have to pay for an in-house employee, but only the service itself, and that they are there for you whenever an issue crops up.

There are many reasons why a medical office should protect their computers, servers, and workstations. A monthly IT service plan is often the most beneficial option for a medical office. It helps to keep the office running effectively and efficiently without sacrificing a large amount of your budget.

 

MPM Monthly IT Service Plan for workstations and servers

MPM ItT Professionals provide the following services:

  • Research and Recommend Hardware, Software, etc
  • Perform Backups
  • Perform system and server reboots
  • Monitor available system resources
  • Monitor performance
  • Create, remove and maintain user accounts and permissions
  • Perform regular Maintenance tasks (Clean Internet Browser Temp files, Empty Recycle Bin, Disk defragmentation and cleanup, Install Updates\patches for backup software, anti virus & malware software and windows\windows plugins
  • Review Log reports
  • Monitor Internet connection
  • Monitor Router logs
  • Monitor Network capacity and performance
  • Monitor Firewall logs
  • Check status of security software updates
  • Investigate any suspicious activity or unexpected software behavior
  • Manage file and folder permissions
  • Enforce Password policies
  • Review Security Auditing, Internet Security and Anti Virus Logs