True North ITG’s CEO Matt Murren discusses strategies for cardiology groups to overcome IT and budget challenges, from optimizing infrastructure to enhancing security and reducing costs.

As the cardiology landscape becomes increasingly complex, organizations face mounting challenges in managing IT infrastructure, security, and costs. 

Matt Murren, CEO and co-founder of True North ITG, a healthcare IT and cloud service provider, sheds light on these challenges and shares insights into how healthcare IT and cloud services can help organizations streamline operations, cut unnecessary expenses, and enhance patient care through targeted IT solutions. 

In this Q&A, Murren discusses key issues facing healthcare IT and offers guidance on navigating today’s evolving digital environment.

Q: What are the main challenges you’re observing in the IT landscape for healthcare organizations today, including cardiology groups?

A: There are a few main challenges we’re seeing. Overall, healthcare organizations are navigating rising expenses in multiple areas, including labor, IT infrastructure, and security. They are under pressure to allocate a higher percentage of their already stretched budget to security expenditures to protect their practice against increased threats like ransomware and other cyberattacks. 

Meanwhile, they are contending with a significant increase in IT labor costs, driven by inflation and cost-of-living adjustments. Then, there’s a shortage of skilled IT professionals, exacerbated by new technologies and large-scale expansions in data centers.

Q: How are these challenges impacting healthcare organizations, particularly smaller specialty groups?

A: Given the prevalence of mergers and acquisitions in this space, healthcare organizations acquiring smaller practices are dealing with consolidating IT systems post-merger, eliminating redundant systems, and avoiding the sprawl of siloed systems that result in increased resources to manage.  

Across the board, there’s a need to balance investments between frontline clinical support and back-office IT functions. Smaller specialty groups are reevaluating their budgets and staffing configurations. They are taking a hard look at which line items are necessary to support IT needs and effective clinical workflows, and which are unnecessary costs in back-office operations. 

Q: Can you advise on how experts like you help group practices facing these challenges?

A: IT experts who specialize in healthcare add value because our expertise extends beyond IT to the realities healthcare practices face. We primarily help group practices optimize their IT investments through consolidation and outsourcing. We augment existing IT teams by handling essential IT functions such as security monitoring, patching, and server management. 

This allows internal staff to focus on critical clinical innovations and day-to-day operations that impact patient care. This approach often results in significant cost savings and operational efficiencies.

Q: What specific areas do you focus on when conducting budget optimization assessments, and can you provide examples of cost savings or efficiencies achieved for your clients?

A: We take a close look at existing IT expenses like software, infrastructure, and services and look for potential hidden costs such as subscription, maintenance, and upgrade fees. We compare these expenditures with organizational priorities and look for opportunities to cut unnecessary costs. We typically focus on reducing software maintenance costs, optimizing telco bandwidth and network configurations, and managing server and workstation maintenance more efficiently. 

Additionally, we provide specialized services like security monitoring, database administration, and even CIO services on a fractional model, allowing practices to access high-level skills without the burden of full-time salaries. In one recent instance, we’ve helped a group of nearly 200 providers save over a million dollars by reconfiguring their network bandwidth and optimizing software licensing. 

These savings allow them to reinvest in clinical initiatives like implementing advanced imaging systems and AI-driven billing solutions. We find that most large groups uncover at least $20,000 a month in IT budget leakage when we conduct budget optimization assessments.

Q: What considerations should healthcare organizations keep in mind when considering IT outsourcing?

A: It’s crucial to partner with a provider like True North early in the planning stages, especially during mergers and acquisitions. By standardizing IT infrastructure from the outset, organizations can maximize efficiency and scale more effectively. 

It’s also important to choose a partner with specialized healthcare IT expertise rather than general IT expertise. Healthcare experts grasp HIPAA regulations, EHR workflows, and security requirements, MACRA and PCI standards, and the latest security threats impacting healthcare.

Q: Beyond cost savings, what other benefits do healthcare organizations experience with your kind of support, and what specifically is your firm’s sweet spot?

A: Organizations experience accelerated project timelines for new initiatives like AI integration and streamlined billing systems. This reduces implementation costs and enhances overall operational efficiency, ultimately benefiting both physicians and patients. We demonstrate ROI by showing not only direct cost savings but also soft savings, such as reduced downtime and improved physician productivity. Our approach aligns IT expenditures with clinical outcomes, ensuring a tangible return on investment.  

Regarding the latter part of the question, our services are tailored for mid-sized healthcare practices with 20 to 100 providers, but in the ROI example, we serve larger groups as well.  These organizations often see significant savings in both Capex and Opex expenditures over a 12 to 24-month period.

Q: What future trends do you foresee in IT management for healthcare organizations?

A: We anticipate a continued focus on leveraging AI and machine learning to enhance clinical operations and cybersecurity. We also think that healthcare organizations will increasingly leverage fractional IT leadership and support and augment their in-house staff with third-party experts on an as-needed basis. 

Overall, we believe in-house IT departments will increasingly shift from backend maintenance to frontline support, driving innovation and improving patient care delivery.

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