Posts Tagged: legacy systems

Do You Have a Legacy Healthcare Data Strategy?

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legacy healthcare data strategy

Legacy data is a pain point for many organizations. For healthcare organizations, it can be further complicated by regulations and compliance. That’s why you need a legacy healthcare data strategy. In this post, we’ll break down how to build one to ensure that data is accessible and secure.

Legacy Systems Are No Longer Serving Your Interests

Keeping a legacy system running to enable continued access to data is a losing proposition. When you adopt a new application, it’s always better to leave the previous one altogether. However, many healthcare organizations keep legacy systems afloat, and that’s costly and risky.

You’ll be paying high monthly fees for it to serve as a storage solution. It also may only be accessible on-site if it’s an on-premises system. The most concerning aspect is that businesses stop supporting legacy systems, meaning they are at higher risk of breach by cyber-criminals. 

The Best Legacy Healthcare Data Strategy Involves Archiving

If you don’t want data to move to your new system, and you can’t purge it due to medical record retention guidelines, do you have other options? Yes, the simple alternative is archiving. You can migrate these records to a web-based healthcare data archiving platform. In doing so, you keep it secure and accessible.

First, such a system is HIPAA and HITRUST compliant. Second, developers employ encryption when the data is at rest and in transit. Finally, it includes multiple levels of security within the cloud to ensure its privacy and confidentiality. 

You can also access such an application from anywhere with an internet connection with login credentials. The most elite solutions include searching and filtering options, as well. As a result, you can find what you need quickly and even run audit-ready reports. 

Building Your Strategy: Questions to Consider

In building your legacy healthcare data strategy, you’ll need to consider the following:

  • How many legacy systems do you have? 
  • What are the record retention laws in your state?
  • What type of data is it—documents, text, images, etc.?
  • Who needs access to the archived data?

With the answers to these questions, you can start developing your strategy. It should include:

  • What data you’ll migrate and where it lives 
  • Who will have access and at what permission levels
  • How long you’ll keep archived legacy data

By documenting your strategy and procedures, you can choose the best archiving solution and say goodbye to those legacy systems for good. 

Not All Archiving Platforms Are the Same

It’s easy to think that all data archiving platforms are the same. There are various offerings available, but the first thing you should do is find one that’s healthcare-centric. That will cover the compliance and usability aspects. Next, you’ll want to ensure it can archive the data formats that you require. You’ll also want to be sure that you can have multiple users with access. 

Finally, make sure it has the features you need to streamline workflows. For example, if you need to provide healthcare records for a specific patient, make sure you can search by patient and then create a report for export. 

Get Control of Legacy Data by Archiving

Archiving data is the best avenue to rid yourself of legacy systems. We’re experts in healthcare data archiving and have securely moved billions of records for industry stakeholders. We invite you to experience our archiving solution, ViewMaster. See how it works and request your demo today.

Your Unsupported Legacy Systems Spell Risk

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unsupported legacy systems

There are probably technology dinosaurs lingering in your organization. Hardware and software both have finite lives, but that doesn’t mean you retired them. Your IT team experienced fluctuations and change like never before in 2020, which probably derailed implementations. The reality is you likely have unsupported legacy systems, servers, and applications, and they are all ripe for risk. 

It’s time to set a new course for how you retire legacy servers and applications.

Study Finds Legacy Platforms Remain in Use

In the 2020 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey, some critical findings on legacy usage are important to note. 

  • Only 45% of respondents include legacy systems in risk assessments.
  • 80% of organizations said they have legacy systems in place.

That’s concerning, and the survey had little change from 2019 to 2020 in retirement or removal. 

Why Is Legacy Retirement Difficult in Healthcare? 

Legacy platforms are hard to retire for several reasons. Expense is a big one, but the cost of not retiring is even higher. Other challenges include the replacement’s implementation slowed, or internal teams cannot convert data from the old platform to the new one. 

However, regulatory bodies continue to impress upon healthcare the threats of not retiring. In particular, a GAO (Government Accountability Office) report declared that unsupported legacy applications are “putting patient and sensitive data at risk.”

The message is that legacy equals risk. If a system, server, or application no longer receives updates, then cybercriminals will exploit it if given a chance. The industry has already seen many cautionary tales. 

Managing Health Information Systems Is Complex

In the world of healthcare, you don’t typically have one health information system (HIS) or even one EHR. Healthcare IT News reported that, based on HIMSS analytics, the average hospital has 16 disparate EHRs, and 75% have 10. And that’s just the EHRs. There are many more HIS in the healthcare ecosystem, such as those for pharmacy, labs, and decision support.

There is continuous movement in the software space for healthcare. EHR dissatisfaction is rampant. Organizations need applications to meet new regulatory requirements. Interoperability is still chaos, and IT teams can hardly keep pace. It’s no wonder that legacy platforms are still so prevalent. 

Planning for Retirement: Building a Data Legacy Strategy

Retiring legacy applications and servers not only reduces risk but can also save you money and be more efficient. To achieve this, you need a legacy data management strategy. To develop this, you have to decide what to do with the data to retire the platform officially. 

  • Do you want to convert it? If you’re replacing the platform, then you’ll want to convert the data from the old to the new. Once the data conversion is complete, you can decommission the system. 
  • Do you want to archive it? You don’t have to convert all the patient records to your new software. You can opt to archive it on a web-based, secure, and compliant solution. It lives in the cloud and will be accessible for as long as medical record retention requirements require. 
  • Do you want to move it? Moving the data is somewhat like a conversion, but it’s not between like platforms. There may be old patient data that you want to use in a new system, and the legacy application is just a parking lot. The reason why it remains there is typically because internal groups lack the capacity. However, you can work with a reputable, experienced third-party to move it. 
  • Do you want to delete it? If you are no longer legally obligated to keep the data, and it has no value, then you could purge it. If purging, do so in a secure, compliant manner. 

Get the Support You Need to Move on from Legacy Systems

Unsupported legacy platforms are costing you money and time while increasing your risk. It’s time to move on from them and turn the page so that you can focus on the applications that matter. Trust our healthcare data experts to help with data conversions, archiving, and sharing. Contact us today to learn more. 

Secure Data Storage for Archived Medical Records

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secure data storage

Does your organization have a secure data storage solution for archived medical records? If you’re still using legacy systems or on-site servers, then your data could be at risk. Based on your state’s medical record retention policies, you must keep patient files to remain in compliance. The problem is that most organizations don’t have a strategy or a comprehensive platform that enables this in an affordable, accessible manner. 

Here’s what you need to know about secure data storage for archived medical records.

Legacy Systems Aren’t Efficient and Can Be Risky

In many cases, healthcare providers and pharmacies leave legacy systems up as their solution for archived storage. Doing so can be inefficient, costly, and risky. When you need to find records, a legacy system typically doesn’t allow for easy searching. You could spend hours compiling records. Further, if it’s only accessible in one location, it’s one more obstacle. 

You’re also paying a monthly fee to keep it live, which can be expensive. Finally, the system could be prime for a cyber-attack because it’s no longer receiving patch updates. Cyber actors are always looking for easy ways to steal PHI (personal healthcare information) or hold it for ransom. To prevent a breach, you need a secure data storage solution. 

On-Site Servers Have Limitations

If you’re not using a legacy system, your IT team may have moved old records to an on-site server. This approach has limitations. It’s only accessible from that location, versus a cloud solution, which you can log into from anywhere. On-site servers are also easier to hack than clouds. Finally, what happens if you lose power or have another disaster? Those records are gone without redundancy. 

The Better Solution for Secure Data Storage

If you want to ensure secure data storage, then you need a robust archiving platform that’s cloud-based. With such a solution, you’ll be compliant, enable easy access, reduce costs, and always have a backup. 

When looking for an archiving system, be sure it has these features:

  • Intuitive, easy to use interface.
  • Web-based.
  • HIPAA and HITRUST compliant.
  • Filtering and searching capabilities.
  • Audit print-ready reporting.
  • Encryption for data at rest and motion.
  • Multiple location options.
  • Different user permissions.
  • Ability to archive documents, files, and images.

Better Security, Efficiency, and More

If your archived medical records plan is falling short, it’s time to rethink how you store records. ViewMaster, our archiving product, has all these features and more. See why so many healthcare organizations choose it for archiving!