Netgain

The full economic impact of Hurricane Harvey has yet to be completely calculated, but financial experts all agree that Hurricane Harvey will go down in history as one of the most, if not the most, expensive natural disasters in the nation’s history.

Moody’s estimates that property losses will total between $45 billion to $65 billion, with economic losses adding another $6 billion to $10 billion. This $75 billion estimate would make Hurricane Harvey second to only Hurricane Katrina’s $118 billion price tag. Some reports estimate that the final price tag of Hurricane Harvey could reach $160 billion due to its massive impact on Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city.

Nearly every American uses cloud services every day, in one way or another. Maybe you use the most common cloud platforms like Facebook and Instagram or a business-productivity application hosted in the cloud at your workplace.

Cloud computing is a type of internet-based computing that provides shared computer processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand.

On Friday May 12, a new Malware infestation, dubbed “WannaCry”, began affecting systems in Europe and Asia. Though some action was taken to shut down the initial variant of this malware, additional variants are expected today and ongoing. An infestation results in the encryption of data and request for payment of ransom, followed by attempted infestation of surrounding connected systems.

Whether you’re shopping for a car, appliances, or another major purchase, you likely pay extra attention to the warranty. What does it cover? How long does it last? What are the stipulations? What happens if it doesn’t work? After all, you have a lot at stake – money, productivity and safety.

When evaluating your cloud computing options, the warranty is equally as important. In the cloud, it’s commonly called the Service Level Agreement (SLA). Every cloud provider’s SLA varies and with your practice’s most sensitive data at stake, choosing the right provider is critical to your cloud strategy.

There is a lot of buzz in the healthcare industry about the cloud – public or private, pros and cons, cost and ROI. What there isn’t a lot of discussion about is the telecom services that can make or break the success of a solution and user experience.

Simply put, telecom refers to the wires responsible for transmitting data from your exam room to the cloud. It is arguably the most important cloud design decision you’ll make for your practice. Your telecom network determines the speed at which your users access data, the security of your data and how much control your practice has over your connectivity.

A typical physician practice may use Microsoft as their cloud provider for Office 365, use their EHR software provider for their EHR, use a private cloud provider for their practice management and their PACS storage on-site. These solutions all have separate logins, support contacts and service level agreements.

Over 80 percent of healthcare providers are using some form of cloud services within their practice, according to HIMSS Analytics’ 2016 Cloud Survey. Patient engagement and empowerment tools are the most common tools in the cloud (35%), followed by health information exchange (34%), back office solutions (18%) and business continuity and disaster recovery functions (13%).

Your EHR is the lifeblood of your practice. Likely the most critical aspect of your practice’s productivity. Yet, so many practices don’t properly research where their EHR is hosted. We’ve developed a checklist of best practices to help you find the best cloud provider for your EHR.

Forty-four percent of EHR products are web-based or hosted, according to a recent survey by Capterra, a service designed to help businesses find the right software. The survey also reports that 51 percent of the EHR products in their directory are cloud-based.

Collecting and acting on client feedback has long been identified as a way to improve client satisfaction, reduce client churn and build employee engagement and morale.

Netgain has always been focused on having a client-centric service strategy that is, in part, built on the feedback we receive from our clients. We’ve collected client feedback in a variety of ways, including partnerships with industry leaders like Microsoft and the Helpdesk Institute to glean valuable feedback. We use the results of these surveys to help direct our path.

Cloud computing has become the new normal in healthcare IT management. It is no longer an “if” but a “when” for growing healthcare practices. The question now has become “what type of cloud is right for my practice?” The unique needs of each practice require cloud solutions that are crafted to fit the environment, rather than the environment crafted to fit the cloud.

The variations of cloud offerings are plenty, but four service-types dominate the marketplace and alleviate a myriad of practice pains.

Cloud computing is a concept with which healthcare organizations are increasingly aware. However, with constant changes and proliferation of cloud-based software models, it can be difficult to understand the variations available. In Which Cloud is Right for Your Organization: Private vs. Public Cloud, we discussed private and public clouds. While these two are the more common clouds, there are other cloud computing options becoming more prevalent among healthcare providers because of their increased flexibility.