Healthcare IT: Phoenix Health Wins EHR Managed Services Deal

Phoenix Health Systems, a managed services provider and IT consulting company, has won a deal to help deploy Meditech’s Electronic Health Records (EHR) system at Cheboygan Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Cheboygan, Mich. The deal reinforces the trend of blending EHR services with managed IT services.

Under the agreement agreement, Phoenix will implement Meditech‘s EHR solution and manage CMH’s technical infrastructure, which includes 24/7 service desk operations, network (both voice and data), desktop and server management from the MSP’s service center in Dallas, Texas and onsite at the hospital.

Phoenix Health Systems brands its managed services as Total IT Solution. The managed service is designed to help any clinical IT system, but its greatest value is in helping small hospitals like CMH manage IT requirements while still implementing mission-critical Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems to meet “meaningful use” requirements in time to receive stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Through its Total IT Solution, Phoenix Health Systems claims to help hospitals cut administrative costs, increase efficiency, improve patient safety and meet regulatory compliance guidelines.

The blending of managed services with EHR remains a hot trend. But we caution MSPs to ignore the hype and really focus on your own education before making any moves in the healthcare vertical. Dozens of software companies promote EHR channel partner programs. Many MSPs have profited handsomely. But we also hear about VARs and MSPs failing in the healthcare vertical because they lack true domain expertise.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.