Many years ago Entegration would respond to support calls and fix problems when they occurred. The use of remote tools and the ability to do preventative maintenance was not mature. Occasionally we would send a tech to a client’s office and have them do some system maintenance which included making sure backups were occurring, checking for hardware errors, applying any outstanding Microsoft Service Packs, etc. Keep in mind that these were the days before software vendors released regularly scheduled security patches and program updates.
Unfortunately the old model which is referred to as “break / fix” led to a lot of frustration from a client perspective and from our perspective. The reason it is called break / fix is because a client would report a problem (break) and we would repair the problem (fix). Over time some of the same problems would occur over and over. A client would get frustrated having to report the same problem over and over and we would be frustrated having to fix the same problem over and over. Unfortunately at times we were not able to stay ahead of problems.
In the past few years significant changes have occurred that allowed us to move away from a break / fix model. The first significant change was the use of remote administration tools. All of our clients now have Internet connections. We now can leverage the Internet to remotely and securely access our client’s networks without having to be at their office. The second significant change was that software vendors started to release regularly scheduled software patches. These patches fix security holes and/or program bugs. For example, on the second Tuesday of each month Microsoft releases a set of patches that fix security holes or program bugs in certain operating systems (i.e. Windows XP, 2003 Server) or applications (MS Word, Excel, Access, etc.).
Now for every client that we support we provide preventative system maintenance. We now use automated tools to let us know the health of a client’s network. We know if a client’s servers are up or down or if their Internet connection has failed. We receive notifications when data backups fail or when a virus outbreak occurs. We work with system tools to push out vendor patches / updates on desktops, laptops, tablets and servers. We now perform test restores of data to ensure that the backups are valid. We can do all the preventative system maintenance without ever going to a client’s office.
The change from break / fix to preventative system maintenance had a real and positive effect. The amount of support calls / tickets that we received from clients went down significantly. I don’t have the exact numbers but I would guess that support calls decreased by 50% over time. A client network that is regularly patched with operating system and application updates is much more stable and reliable. This has a positive affect on our clients and the use of our techs. Our clients are happy because they have a network that is much more dependable and reliable. There is much less time and money being spent on annoying problems. Clients can focus on implementing advanced services that make them more efficient. From our perspective with less support calls we can take on more clients without having to hire more techs. Preventative system maintenance has produced stable and reliable networks that don’t need as much support from us.
As a practice moves from paper charts and simple networks to full EHR / EMR implementations with complex networks, it is essential to move to a preventative system maintenance model. Break / fix is not an option as you implement more and more network equipment. Complex networks need to be patched at the operating system level (Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 2003 and 2008 Server), the system application level (MS SQL, Exchange, etc) and at the desktop application level (MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, EMR client software, etc.). As you are looking into implementing and EHR / EMR, conversations with your IT vendor should be occurring on how the network will be supported. If you have already implemented an EHR / EMR your vendor should be doing preventative maintenance on your network. In addition to ensuring that a network is stable and reliable, networks that are kept up to date are much more secure as I pointed out in this article. My last thoughts on this is if you want your practice to run as smooth as possible and to make the most out of your EHR / EMR, moving to a preventative system maintenance model is a requirement.
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