IT Consultants — Whom Should You Trust?

One of the most important decisions in getting your clinic computerized and moving towards a “paperless” environment is setting up and maintaining your computer network infrastructure. This is crucial for connecting your information and promoting effective communication to, and between, your personnel and to the outside world. You have to have fast, up-to-date hardware and it has to be configured correctly so your users are not frustrated in waiting for a file to be found, updated, processed, and then re-filed.

So, who decides what hardware configuration you need, sets it up and maintains it? Well, you should! But let’s face it; your expertise is not in setting up computers and computer networks. And because technology continues to change at such a rapid pace, you will need guidance from someone or from a company that has the experience in setting up and maintaining computer networks. This article is meant to be a guide to help you evaluate and select the right individual or company. Making the right decision will allow you to run a more profitable operation. Making the wrong decision will cost you money, stress, employee problems, etc.

Connectivity Terms

While there could be a case made for including many different connectivity terms, I will make this simple. Either your computers are connected by a wire or not. I will provide some benefits and issues with both configurations.

Wired vs. Wireless

Computers connected by wires have been the standard. Wires connect each computer on the network to each other, including connecting to devices such as printers. The benefit to a wired system is that you have a very reliable, secure system with fast processing. Because network wires are built to provide shielding from interference, you do not have to worry about interrupted or lost transmission of data if your network is correctly configured. Also, wired networks can give you better control over security. I liken a wired network to a hard-wired phone.

The negative inherent in a completely wired network is that you have to stand or sit in front of a computer in a static area to access and update your information. But, in health care, clinicians usually need to be mobile.

In a wireless network, computers are connected to each other using “radio” frequency signals. A wireless system allows users to move about while using handheld computers to connect to other computers to review and update information. This is of great benefit because you can be with a patient while accessing and updating their file and then take the computer with you to the next patient encounter. I liken wireless to a cell phone because there are no hardwires and you can be truly mobile. However, when you lose connection on a cell phone, you just don’t hear the other party. If you lose connection (called “drops”) in a wireless network, the data that was trying to get to the other destination but never makes it. This type of data is referred to as packets of information and, over time, loss of data packets could corrupt any database.

Wireless connectivity has come a long way and, depending on the size of your practice and how many users are mobile, it may make sense for your clinic to be set up with both wired and wireless stations. And depending on how large your network is and whether you want to connect from outside of your clinic, you will need to have an IT consultant who has the experience and certifications to set up systems called Citrix or Terminal Services.

Batch vs. Real Time

Batch processing is where files are accumulated and then processed together. For example, when you wait until the end of the day to run all your billing or do all your days’ notes. There are some systems that allow you to download files, work on them. and them transfer them back. However, too often the file you download does not have the most current information in it because it may be in the process of being updated by someone else simultaneously. An example of this is if you access a patient file to update it while someone else has it open at the same time and is working in it. Whose data will be saved? Another issue is the time it takes to download and upload files thus making this process very inefficient. In a batch environment, your computers do not have to be networked (connected) together at all times.

However, if you want to be truly paperless, you need to have all your computer systems and personnel connected at all times and run what is called a “real-time” processing environment. Real-time allows you to access, review and, if necessary, update information almost immediately. The ‘almost’ refers to the wait time for this transaction to be completed. Real-time provides you with the most current form of information available and the most efficient manner in processing and updating information using computer/software technology.

The fact is, computers through the Internet, (which is basically, a massive computer network), are increasingly connecting to everything and everybody in the world. You want to be connected at all times and have access to your patient files, employees, business information, etc. This is where having a reliable computer network with all your computers and software connected together is necessary. Having a good IT consultant is crucial in order to make the correct decisions without it being overly expensive.

Everybody’s a Computer Expert!

As technology has gotten faster, there are more choices and thus more complexities. There are so many people who claim they are computer experts or seems to know someone they think is a computer expert. There is always someone’s son, nephew, patient, etc. that claims to be an expert. For small networks, sometimes, you might luck out and get a person that actually does know what they’re doing. However, things can get too complex when you want to be:

• networked
• wireless
• able get at your date from any location
• assured that your data is safe and HIPAA compliant

You have to have guidance from a professional person or company that has the experience and credentials to design and take care of your network needs.