While working across multiple offices may mean more business through a wider volume of patients, it also brings its own unique hassles.
How often do you find yourself saving a file on one computer (like a quick reminder note in Notepad), only to try to unsuccessfully hunt it down on the new computer you’re on later?
Maybe you want to listen to some of your dictations of an earlier patient meeting, but the dictation software is only installed on one computer and surprise! - that computer’s down. You can’t download anything until it’s fixed later in the afternoon.
Is important software only available on a handful of computers? Can you only use your X-ray viewing or accounting software on one or two computers in the office? What if someone else is using them or they just aren’t working properly?
Maybe you’re one step ahead, and you have a server in your main office that the satellite offices can access remotely (like a “Z: Drive” or a “G: Drive”). But when the power goes down at the main office, the server goes down with it, and everyone is stuck.
Does your main office use one instance of your ERP while the satellite offices use a different one? When you enter in patient data, is it easily accessible by any office, or do you have to re-enter it into each system?
For all of these different pain points, there is one solution. You need a way to ensure that everyone has access to the tools they need, and to streamline your information so your people can move seamlessly and efficiently from office to office – as if they weren’t moving at all.
You probably already know you should be using the cloud.
Cloud Storage Is Not Enough
Just using cloud storage alone (like Google Drive – although note that Drive isn’t secure enough to be HIPAA compliant - see our post here on Google Apps and HIPAA compliance) won’t solve all the issues. It’s a good start and will help solve the problem of employees not having access to files when they change computers, but it’s not the whole answer.
The best way to integrate your offices is to set up a hosted desktop solution. With hosted desktops, all of the software and applications are installed and maintained on a remote computer or server, which your employees can log into from anywhere. It’s as if they were logging into their same computer, no matter where they are or what device they are using. Think of it as one step beyond using your ERP (which also should work over the cloud and sync your patient data to make it available to whoever needs to access it).
Ease and Efficiency With Hosted Desktops
Hosted desktops are easy to use, easy to deploy, and can eliminate a lot of the headaches of a multi-office technology environment. A hosted desktop solution means:
- Your employees can all access “their” desktop (and therefore all their files) from wherever they are.
- You can ensure that critical software is available on every machine, not just a select few.
- The computer you’re using will always “look” the same (same desktop, same programs, same preferences), regardless of which physical computer you’re using.
Besides being more efficient and easier to use, hosted desktops also provide a number of little conveniences, such as not needing to install new website certificates (like you would when you’re on a new machine), and being able to run programs faster than if they were installed on your own computer (because they are installed on a more powerful computer with more processing power).
Hosted desktops provide more than just efficiency and ease of use - they also can help you cut your computing costs by 30%. To learn more about how hosted desktops can be a great solution for your practice, download our guide, HIPAA Compliance in the Cloud.
