Arguably, hospitals have the greatest need for telecom expense management compared to other types of organizations. Hospitals need to ensure that they have the latest, greatest, and most reliable telecom infrastructure. With inadequate telecom service, a patient’s health or personal information could be at risk. Furthermore, there are many compliance related issues that are secured with telecommunications equipment.
However, that grade of telecom service doesn’t come cheap. Few other types of business invest as much money in telecom to support their organizations as hospitals do. Patient data, staff communications, and advanced healthcare equipment demand lightning-fast connections to securely send sensitive information, often in real time.
Hospitals’ Dependence on Technology
Hospitals are one of the most technology dependent types of organization. They could not survive without a state-of-the-art telecom infrastructure. Even the machines designed to care for the needs of patients are integrated into the network infrastructure. Voice paging systems, Unified Communications hardware for on-call scenarios, highly specialized health devices, and storage networks that contain sensitive healthcare records all depend on modern computing. Keeping up with the latest and greatest technologies to remain a state-of-the-art hospital requires substantial investments in telecommunications technologies. With that understanding, it stands to reason that a hospital without a TEM program is squandering large sums of revenue that could otherwise be used to increase the quality of patient care.
Massive Telecom Investments
It is not uncommon for hospitals to invest more than seven figures into their telecom infrastructure. With such a sizable investment, it is obvious that a lot of money can be saved by managing costs. The larger the hospital and the more that is invested in telecom, the more opportunities exist to save vast amounts of money. It is not atypical for hospitals to save hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) after implementing a telecom expense management program. In addition, it is forecasted that hospitals will allocate an increasing percentage of their budget to telecom costs each year. Healthcare applications, healthcare systems, and devices are only going to advance and grow more complex and costly.
Telecom Plays a Supporting Role
While the core purpose of some businesses is offering IT related services, hospitals’ primary roles are in the healthcare industry. As such, telecom equipment plays a supporting role to the organization. It is not its primary focus. Though hospitals may have in-house IT staff, hospitals are much more susceptible to missed savings opportunities because their main focus is on healthcare. Every missed telecom opportunity and wasted dollar could have been spent improving the quality of the hospitals’ patient care.
Cutting Your Expenses
Without an intimate knowledge of TEM, a hospital is throwing away boatloads of money. What may seem like trivial details in contract negotiations or invoices can quickly cause massive financial losses. If you don’t have adequate expense management solutions in place, it is time to speak with a professional. A TEM expert will enable you to save unbelievable amounts of money.
[author_bio username=”Ken” avatar=”yes” name=”yes”]