Almost every IT company says it supports healthcare. For a skilled nursing facility, that claim is easy to test, because the facility runs differently from the dental offices and clinics most of those companies are used to. Care never stops, staff turn over constantly, and the clinical system lives in someone else’s cloud.
If you are an administrator or owner comparing managed IT providers, these seven questions separate a provider who understands nursing homes from one who will learn on your residents’ time.
1. What happens when a night nurse calls?
Ask exactly who answers a call at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, and what they can do. Some providers forward after-hours calls to a voicemail or an answering service that takes a message for the morning. Others have a technician who can connect to your network and act. Ask for the after-hours response time in the contract, not on a sales slide.
2. How do you handle EHR problems you don’t control?
PointClickCare, MatrixCare and other long-term care EHRs are hosted by the vendor. A good provider can tell quickly whether a problem is your network or the vendor, and when it is the vendor, opens the ticket and stays on it so your DON doesn’t have to. Ask whether they have worked with your EHR before and whether they will be listed as an authorized contact with the vendor.
3. How do you add and remove agency staff?
Agency nurses and aides come and go every week. Each one needs a login that works on day one and is disabled the day they leave. Shared logins are a common shortcut and a common HIPAA problem. Ask how the provider handles same-day account requests, and how they find accounts that should have been disabled.
4. Will you sign a business associate agreement?
An IT provider with access to systems holding resident information is a business associate under HIPAA and needs a BAA with your facility. A provider who hesitates, or who has never been asked, is telling you something. Also ask which of their own vendors, such as remote access and backup tools, can reach your data.
5. Show me your last backup restore test
Every provider says they back up your data. Fewer can show you the date they last restored it and confirmed it worked. Ask what is backed up, where the copies are stored, whether they are encrypted, and how often restores are tested. For PointClickCare facilities, also ask who checks that the eMAR Backup computer is receiving current files.
6. What do you know about nurse call, Wi-Fi and the building?
Many nurse call and resident monitoring systems depend on the facility network. Wi-Fi has to cover resident rooms and the far end of every wing, not just offices. Ask whether the provider does wireless surveys and cabling themselves or subcontracts them, and whether they have worked alongside nurse call vendors before.
7. What will you give us for surveys and audits?
Surveyors and auditors want documents: a current HIPAA security risk analysis, policies, records of backups and access reviews, and IT items in your CMS emergency preparedness plan. Ask the provider what they hand over, how often it is updated, and whether they will help you answer an auditor’s questions.
Red flags
Watch for providers who quote a flat price without asking how many shifts, devices and facilities you have; who can’t name the EHR you use; who treat HIPAA as an add-on; or whose only references are offices that close at 5 p.m. Ask for references from other skilled nursing facilities and call them.
Where to start
RDE Technologies supports skilled nursing facilities with managed IT, backups, network and wireless setup, and HIPAA-ready security. Start with our free HIPAA security risk assessment, a one-hour remote session with a written report within 5 days, or read how we provide IT support for skilled nursing facilities.
Further reading: HHS, Sample Business Associate Agreement Provisions.