Virtual Desktop Key To Maximizing Efficiency

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Kailo's Clinical Concierge is a hands-on solution that addresses clinician desktop support issues.

Streamlining network administration, increasing mobility for employees, and aiding disaster recovery are typical justifications for a virtual desktop implementation according to SearchHealthIT, but Meaningful Use (MU) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance are perhaps even more pressing.

In some cases, a virtual desktop implementation also can enhance systems' interoperability. Meaningful use technically doesn't require it, but interoperability has been called a central goal of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, or ONC.

Implementing electronic health record (EHR) systems, however, is a criterion of meaningful use. Desktop virtualization can enable EHR implementations and help sustain their success by giving administrators the ability to perform maintenance remotely.

The 2013 Desktop Virtualization Trends in Healthcare report presented findings of Imprivata’s third-annual survey about the adoption rates and benefits of desktop virtualization (as well as cloud-based applications and services) in healthcare. According to the report, desktop virtualization remains prevalent in healthcare, with 75 percent of respondents using Server Based Computing (SBC) today and 57 percent using Server Hosted Virtual Desktops (SHVD) today. Compared to the 2012 survey, SBC usage increased 23 percent and SHVD usage increased 39 percent.

Further, a mixed use of both SBC and SHVD is becoming more commonplace, with 49 percent of respondents indicating that they are using both technologies today (compared with 23 percent from the 2012 survey).

Meanwhile, adoption of cloud-based applications and services in healthcare is increasing more quickly than expected, with 30 percent of respondents indicating that they are using cloud computing today (up from nine percent from the 2012 survey). And while the use of cloud-based services and applications in healthcare is increasing, 71 percent of healthcare organizations currently using cloud computing work with just one or two vendors.

For healthcare organizations that have no plans to adopt cloud computing, security remains the primary barrier, but 17 percent cite the top reason as “cloud services vendors do not offer HIPAA Business Associate Agreements.”

Desktop virtualization also comes in different “flavors,” according to this article from CIO. Healthcare providers should choose their own brand of virtualization based upon their unique needs, tailoring their system to meet their requirements.

According to Entry Software, self-serve customer service portals should be easy to use to submit and view tickets, promoted with your organization and seamlessly integrated into your help desk for IT department's software system. The realm of desktop support is entering a whole new stage.

One company, Kailo, has created a service to help overcome basic technical issues while in the midst of patient care. Kailo's Clinical Concierge is a hands-on solution that addresses clinician desktop support issues in order to improve efficiencies and allow healthcare providers to focus on their patients. Kailo’s research demonstrated most clinicians and their staff often do not report common issues such as PCs freezing, trouble logging in, and application updates that affected computer performance, instead responding by rebooting the computer, sometimes repeatedly, or ignoring the problem.

The program hires, trains, and manages support staff that not only provides excellent service but also proactively addresses unreported issues, prevent future complications, and identify training opportunities to reduce user error.

As healthcare moves deeper into the realm of EHRs and MU, providers would be wise to remember that dedicating attention and resources to IT support will be crucial to the success of their healthcare institutions. It would appear that desktop support, or concierge services, offer one path to more efficient, cost-effective delivery of services.