How a Healthcare IT Consultant Adds Value
In today’s technology-driven landscape, hospitals and physician practices of all sizes strive to provide a digitally connected care environment for their patients. However, it seems that healthcare information technology (IT) grows more complex by the day and navigating the vast number of options – platforms, programming languages, methodologies, technologies, tools, and more, has become an uphill battle.
To compound that, IT departments often operating with a lean staff and a leaner budget, get pulled in many different directions at once ranging from daily tasks, putting out fires, data security issues, and more. With that in mind, here is how an IT consultant can be an asset to your organization.
Article Highlights
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Healthcare IT consultants bring deep technical and operational expertise, bridging gaps between clinical goals and technology systems.
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They help organizations make smarter tech decisions, avoiding costly mistakes in EHR selection, implementation, and optimization.
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Consultants can assess current systems, identify inefficiencies, and propose scalable solutions that align with long-term goals.
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They provide crucial support during times of transition, such as leadership vacancies, system upgrades, or compliance audits.
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Working with a consultant allows internal teams to stay focused, while the consultant leads high-impact projects to completion.
IT Department Challenges in Healthcare
‘Handle It All’ Department
An issue we often encounter with healthcare organizations is the assumption that their IT departments should be able to handle it all – from maintenance of current day-to-day operations to technology growth and new implementations.
Many IT teams are already at or near maximum capacity managing the daily tasks required – adding a large project to their workload could be a recipe for failure. Additionally, other departments may lack the understanding that IT teams are not always able to complete their tasks on time and continue piling on requests to an already overloaded IT department.
Work in a Vacuum
When an IT team selects projects to work on, they often work in a vacuum and choose projects without any formal methodology. When an IT team begins working on numerous, disconnected projects without a strategic roadmap, they often become overloaded and struggle with unclear priorities.
Furthermore, the chosen projects may not even be the most important projects that align with the organization’s overarching goals. As a result, resources are being used up but not necessarily completing projects efficiently.
Silo Mindset
Another issue we often see is when healthcare organizations operate with a silo mindset. A silo mindset is viewing the organization’s departments as verticals independent of each other. For IT departments, these verticals usually align with the department’s function such as revenue cycle, claims and billing, front office, and clinical care.
An example of a silo mindset is when clinical staff lack the proper education on the revenue cycle department’s newly implemented system resulting in countless hours fixing inaccurate codes and dealing with denied claims down the road.
What is an IT Consultant
Many times, people believe that IT consulting is about giving advice. However, IT consulting is much more complex. IT Consultants work alongside healthcare organizations to design an IT strategy that aligns technology with their business goals.
In fact, IT consulting services can range from interim staffing, strategic planning, and infrastructure optimization to network and systems management, help desk support, and more.
Reap the Benefits of an IT Consultant
Investing in outside resources such as an IT consultant can prove to be a tremendous asset to a healthcare organization. Some of the key advantages of leveraging IT consulting services include:
- Immediate Access to Expertise and Experience: IT consultants have extensive technical knowledge and bring years of industry experience to the table. Being exposed to many different healthcare-specific problems and problem-solving approaches helps a consultant bring a fresh outside perspective to the department’s challenges.
- Produce Results: A consultant’s refined knowledge working with many healthcare organizations large and small uniquely qualifies them to produce results immediately while keeping project goals at the forefront.
- Project Leadership & Oversight: A consultant has the keen ability to establish direction, communicate vision, and develop high-performing teams that can deliver results.
- Improve IT Infrastructure & Processes: Prioritizing IT infrastructure management for hospitals and clinics of all sizes is necessary to ensure all IT systems and networks are running at optimal levels. A consultant will quickly take control of the IT environment to better track performance, make smarter IT decisions, and mitigate technology risks involving hardware, software, and network systems that may arise.
To read more about the benefits of hiring a consultant, check out 6 Reasons Hiring a Consultant is Right for Your Healthcare Organization.
Conclusion
At John Lynch & Associates, our IT consultants guide clients through a strategy-focused process of maximizing the power and potential of the healthcare IT department for the betterment of the entire staff, providers, and patient populations.
By understanding the organization’s overarching corporate strategy and goals, we build a roadmap that maximizes efficiency and profitability while adding value to your organization.
Consider partnering with a John Lynch & Associates IT consultant to gain immediate access to a unique perspective, strong leadership, and the discipline to motivate, plan, organize, and control resources. Contact us today and let's partner together to achieve your organizational goals.
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