When A Long-Term Care Facility In Boston Did, They Contacted Radius Executive IT Solutions
Marian Manor is a non-profit skilled nursing and rehabilitation center located in the historic Dorchester Heights area of South Boston. Sponsored for more than 60 years by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, Marian Manor provides the highest quality staff and services, continuing a long tradition of caring for the physical, spiritual, and intellectual needs of the whole person.
The Problem
The leadership at Marian Manor wasn’t happy with the pricing and service their IT support company was providing. They were looking for Managed IT Services for a fixed, monthly rate and unlimited onsite support. They also wanted a designated IT technician who would manage all of their needs and could provide the continuity of service they required.
The Solution
They contacted us and today are extremely satisfied with the IT managed services and onsite support we provide.
- We monitor their IT system 24/7 for reliability and security.
- We provide a Backup and Disaster Recovery Solution, so they always have access to their data.
- We implemented and migrated their data to Microsoft Office 365 to increase productivity, collaboration among their staff, to support HIPAA compliance regulations, and provide anywhere/anytime access to their files.
- We offer Help Desk Services whenever they need additional support.
The Result
Kahoney Anderson, the Executive Director of Marian Manor, raves about our service!
“Radius IT employees are friendly, responsive, and patient with us when we experience technical difficulties. Their CEO (Phil) is excellent and reachable. Not too many companies have their CEO accessible to clients like Radius IT does. I feel I can call him directly in addition to our representative who visits the facility weekly to address our IT needs.
The representative who visits Marian Manor is absolutely wonderful, and his customer service skills are superb. He is professional, knowledgeable, kind, responsive, and overall, a wonderful person to have in our building. We look forward to his visit each week because we feel like he’s a member of our team.
I strongly recommend Radius Executive IT Solutions to anyone who asks me about great Healthcare IT Service and Support. I’m willing to speak on their behalf to other potential clients and share our positive experience. I’ve never had a negative experience with Radius Executive IT Solutions in person, on the phone or via email. Their staff is professional and very kind on the phone and in person.
We enjoy having the team at Radius Executive IT Solutions as our partners. They always resolve our IT problems in a timely fashion and follow-up to ensure everything is working as it should.
Many IT companies create “ticket numbers” then the issue doesn’t get resolved for days. Radius resolves issues quickly. They provide routine IT support in addition to system upgrades. Because they are responsive and always on target, we never experience anything negative. Again, the IT technician assigned to Marian Manor is absolutely wonderful. I can’t say enough about him, or the service Radius Executive IT Solutions provides. We are very pleased.”
Did You Know That The Right IT Support Can Improve The Way You Serve Your Residents?
Your long term care (LTC) facility, like hospitals and other healthcare organizations, must have secure access to technology to address your residents’ needs. Today, many are benefitting by using more sophisticated IT systems and solutions for clinical support and administrative duties. As a result, they are providing improvements in the quality of care. This is according to a study at Missouri University.
The study found that long-term care facilities that used more sophisticated IT solutions for administrative activities had a lower percentage of residents with:
- Moderate to severe pain,
- Urinary incontinence, and
- New or worsened pressure ulcers.
Are You Using Technology As You Should To Improve Your Residents’ Outcomes?
Despite studies like this and the fact that technology’s role in the long-term and post-acute care space are being increasingly used, many organizations providing long term care admit that they’re not prepared to use innovative tools as part of a value-based strategy. This is according to a report published in November 2017 by Black Book Research.
Long-term care administrators surveyed said that nearly 90 percent of their facilities aren’t exchanging health information electronically with referring provider organizations, including hospitals, physicians and home health providers. And, only 3 percent of inpatient long-term care providers surveyed say they use data analytics technology with a goal of cutting unnecessary hospital readmissions and lowering care costs.
With the benefits today’s innovative technology provides, shouldn’t your LTC facility consider how you can improve your quality of care with the right IT solutions?
What 5 Technologies Can Long Term Care Facilities Use To Improve Patient Care?
- EMR/EHR Software For LTCs
- Cloud-Based Solutions Like Microsoft Office 365
- Near Field Communications
- Hosted Email
- Managed IT Services
EMR/EHR Software
Providers looking for LTC Electronic Medical Records know that long term care settings are very different from hospitals and physicians’ offices. EMRs developed for acute or ambulatory care settings have very different functionality from those designed for LTC settings. They may not convert to long term care use. This is why you should look for an EMR/EHR that is specifically designed for the clinical and operational needs of LTC settings.
Microsoft Office 365
Office 365 is a suite of subscription products developed by Microsoft that includes the software tools you’re familiar with like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. But it offers much more for LTC providers:
- Use Microsoft Teams for secure messaging and to communicate on the go.
- Health Team Huddle measures and visualizes impactful best practices across your organization, identifies patient care issues and potential causes and allows you to share ideas with your health team using natural conversations.
- The Care Coordination solution, now available in private preview, gives healthcare teams a secure hub for coordinating care across multiple patients. It provides for partner integration with electronic health records (EHR) systems and enables care providers to communicate about patient care in real time within Teams’ secure platform.
Microsoft Office 365’s suite of tools doesn’t require any expensive upfront costs. Instead, you subscribe with a reasonable monthly fee. This allows LTC facilities to make the switch to Office 365 without having to allocate a huge amount of money from the start.
With Office 365, you can improve your residents’ care through collaboration, innovation and efficiency. It will empower your teams with a collaborative culture to allow the best care possible using a platform that ensures the security of confidential information through encryption.
Microsoft Office 365 meets HIPAA auditing requirements and logs of access to stored data are maintained. (Reports on access logs can be obtained from Microsoft on request.) And it complies with a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement which captures the implementation of physical, technical, and administrative safeguards.
To comply with HIPAA, all the data uploaded to or stored on Microsoft servers is protected by encryption and any data transferred outside of Microsoft facilities is also encrypted. Microsoft also offers 2-factor authentication to prevent Office 365 and Outlook email accounts from being accessed if a password is compromised and an unfamiliar device attempts to log into an account.
Hosted Email For Long Term Care Facilities
Services like G-mail and Hotmail don’t provide the IT security long term care facilities require. They aren’t enough to send Protected Health Information (PHI) nor do they provide end-to-end email security. For long term care facilities to be HIPAA compliant, they require a secure, hosted email solution with encryption.
Hosted email stops spam and stores emails safely. Even if your LTC facility is shut down for any reason, you can still access your emails and stored messages from wherever you have an internet connection.
It provides the highest level of email data protection possible. Plus you can sync your emails across all your multiple devices, so your communications are safe, reliable and accessible wherever you or your staff are.
Near Field Communications (NFC)
Near Field Communications is a short-range wireless communication technology that makes it more convenient for nurses, doctors and healthcare providers to exchange digital content and connect electronic devices with just a touch.
NFC applications have the potential to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered in long term care facilities. It simplifies the exchange of digital content between patients and healthcare providers while reducing costs and improving care.
Long-term care facilities, healthcare organizations and providers are increasingly seeing the value of NFC in their patient care. It provides a secure exchange of electronic medical records, access to emergency medical data, can be used to track medication adherence, and monitor long term care facility residents’ fitness and wellness.
It’s highly secure and uses one-to-one device pairing for increased confidence and accuracy. It’s also supported by most mobile devices and tablets. And it’s a seamless option to track rounds and patient monitoring.
Data is stored and captured in a secure database. It’s simple to use and doesn’t require specialized staff training. It can provide important drug interaction information through tags on prescriptions and over-the-counter product packaging. And wearable tags (e.g. wristbands) can hold critical health information that’s easily read by a healthcare provider’s NFC-enabled device in an emergency.
Managed IT Services
Just like referring patients and residents to specialists for evaluations to ensure their health, you should refer your IT network to a specialized and qualified Managed Service Provider (MSP) like Radius Executive IT Solutions who understands HIPAA compliance requirements for data storage and transfer.
They are best suited to evaluate your processes and procedures to determine if your IT network is HIPAA compliant. Relying on an IT professional who understands what HHS and CMS are looking for could mean the difference between passing a HIPAA audit and ending up on the HHS Wall of Shame, or qualifying for Medicaid reimbursements.
The Benefits of Managed Information Technology Services:
- Because your IT system is monitored proactively, your IT professional is familiar with it. If there’s a problem, they can usually get you back up and running quickly.
- You have a Service Level Agreement with your Managed Service Provider (MSP) that includes all the services and support needed to keep your technology running reliably and securely.
- You can easily budget for IT services because your costs are predictable.
- With Remote Monitoring & Management, IT interruptions, downtime and breaches are prevented.
- You’ll have 24/7 service and access to a help desk that’s staffed by experienced IT professionals. This means you’ll always have immediate, expert-level support.
- With IT solutions that run as they should, your staff will remain productive. Plus, they won’t have to worry about IT problems and can focus on their work.
Managed IT Services Provide Comprehensive Cybersecurity with:
- Employee Security Awareness Training
- Network and Perimeter Security
- Data Protection
- Email and Web Security
- Wireless Network Security
A Qualified IT Managed Service Provider With HIPAA Expertise like Radius Executive IT Solutions can:
- Set Up Business-Class Software & Operating Systems
- Ensure That You Use Business-Class Email & Text Messaging
- Keep Your Network Secure & HIPAA Compliant
- Make Sure That Your Files & Data Are Encrypted
- Ensure That You Enforce Password Security & Automatic Logoff
- Set Up A Business-Grade Firewall
- Perform Risk Analysis to ensure you remain eligible for the highest Medicare Reimbursement Rates.
Your IT support company should also provide a signed Business Associate Agreement, which is mandatory for HIPAA compliance. (Radius Executive IT Solutions is HIPAA Compliant.)
In Conclusion
As information technology improves, and long term care facilities access the IT services and support that are so important to ensure reliability, security and compliance, so will their residents’ health outcomes. It’s been proven that sophisticated IT systems in nursing homes are beginning to achieve added benefit for resident care, clinical support, and administrative activities.
Talk to us at Radius Executive IT Solutions to find out how you can implement these 5 IT Solutions and others so your Long Term Care facility can promote quality care through technology.
In the meantime, visit Our Blog for more information about healthcare IT or technology service for any type of business in Greater Boston.
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