As time goes by, the small medical practice tradition of hand-written records is disappearing. Just 15 years ago, 90% of doctor’s used handwritten records. By 2017, approximately 87% of office-based practices were utilizing electronic health records (EHR) in some form. This comprehensive shift in how data is stored in small medical practices has necessitated new ways of addressing security, HIPAA compliance, and office efficiency.

For a medical practice utilizing EHR, there are two avenues to consider in regards data storage. You can either employ a traditional client-server environment, or access cloud-based computing.

Why Small Offices are Choosing Cloud-Based Computing

The traditional client-server method of computing requires a small medical practice to install hardware and software onsite at the office. While this was the preferred method of computing when EHR was introduced, it does have some downsides. Yes, offices can retain control of their system, but they also are responsible for the ongoing necessity of hardware maintenance, software updates, and mitigation of issues, downtime, and security issues.

Many small medical practices cannot afford to employ IT professionals. Office staff, already busy within their own job descriptions, may find the added burden of keeping everything running smoothly, as well as ensuring compliance, to be overwhelming. Let’s face it – your team I highly trained, but not in IT services.

On the other hand, cloud-based computing entails offsite servers, maintained by an managed services provider. People are more familiar with cloud-based services computing than they may realize – email programs, social media sites, and photo-storage applications are all examples of cloud services.

Moving to cloud-based computing is increasingly attractive to small medical practices for many reasons, but here are just a few of the top motivators:

  • Cost Savings: Doing it yourself is not always the most cost-effective solution, and this is especially true with IT services. The original cost of servers, software licenses and training easily reaches into the tens of thousands. On an ongoing basis, hardware must be maintained, software must be upgraded, and cyber threats must be protected against. These costs are hard for a small practice to shoulder on their own, but the providers of cloud-based computing can use economies of scale for all associated costs. They will take care of needed upgrades, patches, and cyber-protection, all included in your monthly or annual retainer.
  • Skilled Expertise: Cloud-based computing firms have tams of professionals which would never be accessible to a small medical practice. These experts will stay on top of new hardware and software, protect your data, can keep you HIPAA compliant, and will advise you when changes are needed. Imagine having an entire IT department, without the overhead.
  • Redundancy & Recovery: Cloud-based computing ensures up-to-date data backups which reside separately from your practice. In the event of a disaster at your location – be it fire, flood, break-in, or power outage – you can quickly recover your data without fear of loss.
  • Flexibility for Employees: Because the data resides offsite, your personnel can access the information from any location. This allows for employees to work from home, or catch up from a long week on a Saturday. Keeping in mind your own practice’s HIPAA procedures, cloud-based computing is often the perfect solution for those looking to keep real estate, utility, and overhead costs lower.

If your small medical practice is trying to decide between a client-server or cloud based solution, call the experts at Alliance IT. We are happy to explain how cloud-based computing works, how it can protect compliance for your small medical practice, and how it can provide great advantages and cost-savings for your organization.