White Paper: Resource Prioritization | Service Desk Support for Union Hospital

Small issues were causing huge problems at Union Hospital. The Maryland non-profit community hospital was quickly losing time with patients, building frustration among staff and running its technology team ragged. Attempts to outsource their Tier I support to a cookie-cutter company were deemed ineffective; Service desk calls were often dropped or escalated back to the hospital IT staff simply because the Tier I technician on the phone failed to properly troubleshoot the problem. Consequently, the hospital’s internal IT department was continuously spread thin by calls for simple fixes, which led to larger projects being neglected.

Something needed to change at Union Hospital, and it quickly became clear that it was their existing support company.

“We really had a growing need to free up our internal technical resources so that we could tackle some of our more pressing projects. We had been using another third-party vendor to help tackle this problem, but it simply was not going so well— our customer satisfaction dropped substantially, our call times, answer rates and first call resolution were just terrible. When we decided to partner with SecureNetMD, everything from the onboarding to the transition was just seamless.”

- Michael Walker, Healthcare Information Technology Manager

In looking for a solution, Walker heard about SecureNetMD.

Leveraging External Resources

With receiving over 1,000 Tier I service support calls each month—ranging from common email password resets and device connectivity issues to more pressing issues of not being able to access patient charts, Union Hospital IT department knew there had to be a better solution. Access to communication software, patient EHR (Electronic Health Records) and other vital endpoints for staff is critical to the overall wellbeing and care of patients. Something needed to change at Union Hospital,al and it quickly became clear that it was their existing service desk support partner. While searching for a solution, Michael Walker, Healthcare Information Technology Manager at Union Hospital, heard about the Delaware-based HIPAA Compliant and fully managed IT solutions firm, SecureNetMD, LLC. Providing the white-gloved onboarding process that SecureNetMD clients have grown to expect, co-founders, Jack Berberian, CEO, and Drew Laroche, CIO, along with an elite team of IT professionals, traveled to the Maryland-based hospital to perform an on-site assessment to evaluate the hospital’s needs.

“The difference was huge and it went far better than I initially expected. From the start, it was all about us. Unlike the experience with our previous vendor, SecureNetMD took the time to actually visit with us on site to learn who we are, what we’re looking to achieve, and really took the time to actually listen. The other company we were working with was cookie-cutter and there was really no room to change anything.” said Walker, Union Hospital Healthcare IT Manager, who had never actually met anyone from their other company. “It was exactly what we were looking for... From the start, it was all about us. Unlike the experience with our previous vendor, SecureNetMD took the time to actually visit with us on-site to learn who we are, what we’re looking to achieve, and really took the time to actually listen."

During their visit, SecureNetMD learned of Union Hospital’s growing need for a solution that could improve patient care, increase patient satisfaction, and most importantly free up the IT department so that they could focus on tackling larger projects. Anne Lara, Chief Information Officer of Union Hospital, shared her thoughts, “It was exactly what we were looking for. They helped us look at our own processes and knowledge base. Having SecureNetMD as a part of our team has given Mike’s team time to do proactive work and implement projects that were really needed.” SecureNetMD doesn’t look for new customers, but new partners. Their goal is to adapt the solutions specifically for their client, not the other way around.

SecureNetMD, LLC is the industry leader in providing HIPAA compliant Managed IT Services to Healthcare Providers, nationwide. With an exclusive focus on Healthcare IT, the Lewes, Delaware based firm delivers comprehensive, next-generation solutions that allow healthcare providers to get back to focusing on what is most important—improving patient care. With a specialization in healthcare technology, SecureNetMD, LLC delivers a unique perspective on the tools and techniques that will result in a long term, cost-effective solution for healthcare providers.

Anne Lara, Chief Information Officer of Union Hospital, shares “It was exactly what we were looking for. Having SecureNetMD as a part of our team has given Mike’s team time to do proactive work and implement projects that were really needed.”

For Union Hospital, that specialization includes a call center inside their phone system with specialized software and a dedicated dial-in number. All service desk calls are routed to SecureNetMD’s 24/7 service desk support, where the calls are answered, assessed, resolved or, in rare cases, escalated to the on site Tier II support resources at Union Hospital. To keep up with those changing concerns, SecureNetMD technicians periodically travel to Union to better understand the needs there. Building that partnership relationship allows SecureNetMD technicians to determine the best evaluative questions to ask when a call comes in. Their conversations are held in layman’s terms, so solutions are found quickly and efficiently with as little stress as possible for the user. Therefore, the hospital staff can get back to working with patients, faster.

Impact on Union Hospital

Union Hospital is an award-winning, licensed 122 bed, non-affiliated, non-profit, full-service community hospital with 360 physicians, 1,000 employees, 2 urgent care facilities, an outpatient diagnosis center, and 6 operating rooms doing an average of 20 procedures a day. The staff and patients at Union Hospital are used to personal care; when they decided to outsource their Tier I helpdesk calls, which can be up to 250 per-week, they wanted to ensure a certain standard of personalized service could be maintained.

In fact, consideration for outsourcing was reached to allow the on-site professionals time to work more closely with patients and staff, which was difficult when they were tied to phones answering Tier I helpdesk questions.

SecureNetMD brought members of its staff to the hospital to learn its procedures and to get a better understanding of the issues the hospital had been facing, in order to expedite calls and increase SecureNetMD’s personalized expertise for Union Hospital. That customization and personalization show in Union Hospital’s recent numbers. Before SecureNetMD, average wait time for a call to be answered was nearly 2 minutes. With SecureNetMD, that average is now down to 10 seconds.

Before SecureNetMD, there was a call abandonment of about 30-percent; nearly 1 out of every 3 callers simply gave up trying to get help. “Users were doing ‘work arounds’ to avoid having to call in”, said Walker. With SecureNetMD, the abandonment rate is less than 5-percent.

And customer service is higher than ever. Even more dynamic is the effect on the in-house IT staff. While some initially worried SecureNetMD meant the elimination of their jobs, the opposite has proven true. “The hospital has been able to retain staff, because now that they are not tied to a desk, they have the opportunity to grow and work on proactive projects—such as a new inventory management system”, said Anne Lara, CIO for Union Hospital. Since moving to SecureNetMD, the IT staff has had more time to work on processes and more creative concepts than ever before. With SecureNetMD’s help, the IT staff at Union Hospital was able to evaluate their own processes and knowledge base to upgrade protocols and create scripts for computer issues and support. “That, to me, is priceless,” said Lara. 

Ticketing System

One of the reasons the SecureNetMD system is so successful is its use of the ConnectWise® ticketing system. Every time a call comes into the help desk, no matter how small, a ticket is opened, information taken and a person or team assigned to solve the problem. The system keeps track of all vital factors: the time the call takes, what the resolution was, and who was involved. ConnectWise® even gives reminders to follow up if the problem is moved to the next level of help, handled in-house at Union Hospital. The system is built for follow up.

On top of the ticketing system, SecureNetMD consistently has someone monitoring the tickets to make sure there are no unresolved issues. Everything is transparent.

All information with ConnectWise® is available in real-time to the officials at Union Hospital as well. Where Walker would have had to request information from the former company and wait days for it to be compiled, he can now simply log into the system and collect statistics on everything from the topic of the call, how long it took to resolve the problem, and any correspondence that was involved. He can also choose to listen to a live call, or pull up recordings of any past calls if there are questions or disputes of any kind. 

It's About Communication

Drew Laroche, SecureNetMD’s CIO and co-founder, couldn’t imagine taking on a new client without any personal interaction.

“Not having a face to face is a horrible way to start a relationship,” said Laroche, who strives to meet with every new and potential client personally.

In the case of Union Hospital, tours of the facilities and meetings with the staff allowed members of SecureNetMD to understand the people of Union Hospital, who they were and how they operate as a team. “It allows us to communicate effectively with them - to know who we are talking to.”

Working with Union Hospital, SecureNetMD set up a new flow to the call system that included collecting more information on each call. Members of the SecureNetMD team traveled to Union Hospital to help train staff to integrate the new information and feel comfortable with the system.

“We’re here to work as a team,” said Laroche.

Once a new system is in place, the communication doesn’t end. SecureNetMD has daily communication with members of the IT staff at Union Hospital, with regular face to face interaction, quarterly updates, and evaluation conference calls. If a problem arises at the hospital, such as a power outage or computer glitch, members of SecureNetMD are immediately informed and prepare technical resources accordingly to handle higher volumes. They are also prepared to supplement Union Hospital staff in crises, if needed. 

Beyond Service Desk

One of the extra advantages of partnering with SecureNetMD is the company’s immersion in providing HIPAA compliant managed IT solutions exclusively to healthcare providers.

Union Hospital CIO, Anne Lara, shares her perspective, “With SecureNetMD’s robust service portfolio, we’ve been able to engage them on a variety of projects outside of just Tier I Service Desk support. SecureNetMD is big enough to handle any problem we have, but small enough to provide custom service and care", said Lara. “They are part of our team.”

This immersion in Healthcare allows for SecureNetMD to proactively look for areas to improve that other providers may simply miss. During the initial assessment of Union Hospital, Berberian and Laroche identified a potential security issue within the Union Hospital system. In what quickly became a separate assignment for SecureNetMD, they were able to communicate the potential problem and proactively resolve it. Today, Union Hospital does not consider SecureNetMD just another vendor, but a sheer extension of their hospital.