Consensus Managed Services Team Helps Alleviate Skills Shortage For Critical Healthcare IT Projects
In an era where technology plays an increasingly vital role in healthcare, the shortage of healthcare IT professionals in the United States is a critical concern. Healthcare organizations are constantly seeking ways to enhance patient care, streamline operations, and secure sensitive patient data. To achieve these goals, they rely heavily on IT professionals who understand the unique challenges and complexities of the healthcare industry. This blog will explore this shortage and discuss how Consensus Managed Services can fill this gap for your healthcare organization.
The demand for healthcare IT professionals has been on the rise for several reasons. The industry has been undergoing a digital transformation, with EHRs, telemedicine, and health information exchange becoming commonplace. Skilled IT professionals who can develop, maintain, and secure these systems are paramount. The sector is also heavily regulated, requiring IT experts who are well-versed and consistently up to date in compliance and data security. Many seasoned IT professionals are approaching retirement, creating a significant knowledge gap in the turnover process. Healthcare technology is also always advancing rapidly, with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics. All of this requires access to skilled technology professionals.
With the high demand, there are other challenges leading to lower supply. Healthcare IT professionals are in high demand across all sectors, some of which offer higher salaries and growth opportunities, poaching top talent from healthcare. The complex regulations above create a high barrier to entry for newcomers. Also, hospital finances are tight, and investment in IT staffing is often not high enough. This leads to healthcare systems purchasing technology-forward solutions but lacking the proper resources to successfully implement it.
A team of managed services professionals can bridge that gap. Managed services offer a strategic approach to addressing the healthcare IT skills shortage. It provides access to specialized expertise and industry-specific knowledge. It is cost-efficient, saving hiring and training which can be both costly and time-consuming. With managed services, you pay for the services you need without the overhead costs associated with full-time employees. Managed services are also scalable and can adapt to evolving needs. Partnering with a service team can also give you access to 24/7 support and monitoring, ensuring that critical healthcare systems, such as integration engines and downtime solutions, are always up and running.
The Consensus Client Services Department is built to provide these services around the entire Consensus product suite. The team is 16 people strong across three teams. We have two teams of engineers and specialists that assist in delivery and ongoing services of our entire Consensus product suite and a Project Management Organization that supports both. Our team brings years of experience in healthcare integration, automation, and interoperability at all levels. We work on eFax onboarding, Conductor integrations, jSign API delivery, Clarity implementations, Automation projects, and All Access implementations. Our goal is to provide the full value of our products to the client in an efficient manner with a customer obsessed mentality.
We provide services through two different methods. First is as an implementation team, onboarding clients onto our software with project management, installation, setup, and training. Beyond our implementation services, we also offer managed services, which are ongoing and more consultative. Our most popular managed services are around our hospital integration tool, Conductor, and our downtime and community access tool, All Access. In both support models, we support our software fully in the client’s environment, in essence becoming a member of their hospital technology team. This saves the client the cost of the full time employee or more it would take to manage their environment and guarantees they are getting the most out of their purchase, as there are no bigger experts in our software than our talented specialists.
We work across all industries, but specialize in healthcare. Healthcare staffing is at an all time challenging level. This can lead to frustrating solution purchases that never get off the ground. Software is purchased, but the internal resources aren’t available to get it off the ground. Or mid-way through implementation, internal turnover leads to a loss of knowledge and project stops and starts. The Client Services team allays those concerns and ensures every Consensus purchase is delivered fully, managed successfully, and delivers the expected performance and ROI. Consensus Client Services has the resources, knowledge, and attitude to always go above and beyond.