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S O F T W A R E
S O L U T I O N
overstated. It will ensure that your staff and physicians can access the
cloud from every corner of your facility. We had an IT consultant to
maintain our billing department's small in-house server, so about a
month before we connected to the cloud, we asked him to survey our
center and ensure we had adequate wireless coverage. Don't wait
until your go-live date to test the wireless network. Use it as much as
possible with your software vendor's practice server. Run it with more
computers than you expect to use on your busiest day to test its reliability and bandwidth capabilities.
You'll need to decide what equipment to purchase, based on your specific needs. You'll most likely need a combination of laptops, desktops
and tablets for your staff to access the cloud. Your software vendor and
its cloud services will provide quick implementation of the software,
and a secure connection to your servers and your wireless network.
The software vendor should spend time with your Internet provider to
ensure it meets your needs and meshes with the cloud-based server.
4
Daily peace of mind
Expect the cloud provider to offer 24-hour support and system
monitoring to ensure issues are avoided or quickly resolved.
The provider should also back up data at the end of each day, which
takes another worry related to in-house servers off your plate:
Backing up data on in-house servers requires storing it on hard drives
or tape drives. Who's going to ensure data is backed up daily and the
drives are properly maintained and stored? It's a great feeling to head
home without worrying that your server has captured the day's electronic records.
Thinking ahead
We're ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing cloud com8 0
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2013
