Health IT Consulting Firms - Supporting Digital Transformation In Healthcare

Information technology has taken over pretty much everything, and the healthcare industry is no exception. In fact, terms like healthcare IT and healthcare IT consulting are becoming more prevalent in the national discourse. 

At the moment, healthcare IT is growing at a rapid pace and is projected that revenues will increase from an already impressive $95 billion to over $192 billion.

If you’re unfamiliar with healthcare IT, you might be puzzled as to what it refers to. It’s pretty simple, actually - healthcare IT encompasses a wide variety of technology employed by different healthcare organizations. This may include tools that healthcare professionals or insurance companies use to store, gather, or analyze a wide array of health information. 

The challenging part of this digital transformation is implementing the said technologies.

Enter health IT consulting firms - these consultants assist institutions put into practice new technologies,  allowing them to navigate smoothly into the new, tech-driven era of the healthcare industry. 

What Do Health It Consulting Firms Do?

You’re most likely aware of what consultants do - they provide valuable knowledge and guidance to their clients to solve a particular problem. Health IT consulting firms do this too. 

They assist healthcare organizations and providers circumvent any technological challenges while administering health software or hardware - IT solutions that ultimately improve patient care while also simplifying business-critical processes. 

It’s worth noting that the IT sector is very complex. As a result, it’s natural that the services provided by health IT consulting firms vary. 

Some of the most common services consulting firms offer include: 

• Strategic consulting
• Cloud computing
• Cybersecurity 
• Technology implementation
• People management tech
• Regulatory and legal assistance technology

Healthcare organizations are desperate to keep up with the demands of developing digital practices, so it’s not a surprise that health IT consulting firms are in high demand. Along with the aforementioned growth in IT adoption in the context of healthcare, the market for healthcare IT consulting will most likely grow from the current market size of $11 billion to a whopping $23 billion by 2028. 

Examples Of Healthcare IT Consulting Services

To illustrate the true value of what health IT consulting firms bring to table, let’s dive into more detail by taking a look at a few examples:

1. Integration of new technologies

Successful application of IT into day-to-day operations can be tricky since they are related to health care for patients and information about their health records that need to be readily available at a moment’s notice. Thankfully, it’s a lot easier to integrate new tech and avoid potential pitfalls by working with a consultant. 

The best examples of integration of IT in a healthcare organization include:

• Electronic disease registries

Software made for this purpose streamlines capturing, managing, and accessing specific information regarding conditions on a list of patients. This helps healthcare providers achieve better management, which enables more consistent service. 

• Clinical decision support

Health IT consulting firms may aid organizations with the proper execution of a system that analyzes electronic health records and enables reminders, thus helping suppliers with an application of a variety of guidelines concerning patient care. 

• Provider order entry

Software for electronic provider order entry allows physicians and other health care professionals to instantaneously order different services such as medications, process lab tests, clinical procedures, etc. 

• Consumer health IT applications

Generally speaking, this technology refers to any software or web-based applications that provide patients with the ability to control certain aspects of their healthcare without input from their health providers. 

• Electronic prescriptions

Implementation of this particular solution can simplify the process of prescribing medication and make it more foolproof at the same time. It allows healthcare providers to enter information into a digital device, which then securely transmits the data on the prescription medication to pharmacies through a specialized transmission network. 

2. Mitigating cybersecurity threats 

Cyberattacks and ransomware are on the rise in the healthcare industry. Due to the sensitive nature of the information stored by healthcare providers, the financial implications of security breaches can be catastrophic and any leaked patient data could lead to major legal problems.

Many health IT consulting firms specialize in cybersecurity and can assist healthcare practitioners in bumping up their security to better safeguard confidential patient records. For instance, they may perform audits on the existing system, do penetration testing to reveal any vulnerabilities, and suggest new protocols that can amend any weak points. 

Furthermore, consultants can also train the staff on the social engineering aspect of cyberattacks to minimize the chance of human error. 

3. Improving regulatory compliance

Keeping data confidential isn’t only related to cybersecurity. Staying compliant with governmental and industry regulations is equally pressing and many IT consulting firms are attempting to fill this particular niche. 

Due to extensive privacy regulations relating to patient records, healthcare providers need to adjust how they share sensitive information. This must be addressed in all technology solutions used in healthcare, especially in the process of data sharing. 

For example, it’s not uncommon for patient records to be transferred digitally across state borders. Such a procedure can get convoluted even more once you account for international patients. 

In addition, cloud storage (which is now widely used in healthcare) and other methods of media backup are also required to adhere to data privacy regulations. 

Putting all this together and ensuring all IT solutions used in the context of healthcare are compliant can quickly become too much for organizations to handle. Fortunately, some consulting firms make it their mission to stay on top of the laws related to medical data and digital systems. As such, they can share their expertise with medical practitioners to prevent any accidental violations of regulations and laws in regard to healthcare data privacy. 

Continued Support Of Your It Infrastructure

With the rising importance of digital technologies, the healthcare industry will most likely be unrecognizable in the coming years. While brilliant minds who develop the tech are at the helm of this transformation, consulting firms are making it happen by smoothing the transition between old and new. 

But what happens after all the necessary tech is implemented? At that point, healthcare organizations often hire their own IT staff to keep the infrastructure running like clockwork. Due to challenges in finding qualified professionals in a niche area, it’s recommended to hire a different kind of consultant - a healthcare IT staffing agency like Griffin Global. 

Over the years, we helped connect different types of health institutions with part-time or full-time IT specialists, thus making our own little contribution to a more robust use of IT in the health industry.

If you want to learn more, reach out to us via our contact form or by calling (855) 747-4334.