Resources
Articles, case studies, guides, and podcast episodes on the IT, security, and data decisions that affect how your practice runs. Written for practice leaders, not IT generalists.
Have you ever moved? To a new place of residence, that is. The vast majority of us can respond with a resounding… Yes! When I think of the data migration process from one EHR to another EHR, I often think of the whole process of moving to a new home; with the respective EHRs being […]
On an increasingly frequent basis, I’m finding myself in discussions with healthcare leaders bashing the performance of their Electronic Health Records (EHR) system vendors. My vendor is not providing the data I need… The product is doing a horrible job handling… I don’t understand why my vendor can’t simply fix the system… Often the root […]
The Wish Recently a client came to me with the following wish, “I really wish I knew if our marketing, sales, and overall outreach efforts were truly making a financial difference.” I translated this into the following question, “How do I know which outreach efforts are making a positive top-line financial impact?” Fortunately, I was familiar […]
There are some things that I’m really not good at. Baseball is definitely one of them. So, as my son Nolan begins tee-ball, I’ve been painfully resurrecting memories of my playing days. In particular, my little league days. My friend Mark and I used to count successes in terms of making contact while at bat. […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APPLETON, WI, April 24, 2023 – Focus Solutions, a healthcare technology consultancy and managed service provider, is thrilled to announce the newest addition to its core leadership team. Mike Lauer has joined Focus and will lead the growing organization’s strategy execution, partnership development, and operations. With nearly three decades of robust experience, […]
Outcome = Event + Response I’m guessing the outcome you are seeking for your systems environment is one of stability. Did I get that right? To reach this outcome, it’s essential to balance the other side of the equation with the proper types of support… both proactive and reactive. Proactively monitor events We recommend continually […]
Your patients’ data is gold. Not only to your practice but also to those with less desirable intent. More than ever, data security and maintaining compliance with the alphabet soup of PHI and HIPAA is table stakes for running a viable healthcare. Without diligence in this area, your days as a practice are likely numbered. It’s a […]
Downtime is best for describing your vacation, not your data center! Downtime in the same sentence as the data center is usually not a good mix. Instead, let’s save that term for describing your summer vacation. By using our tech savviness to creatively leverage the vast infrastructure resources of Microsoft, we’re proud to bring unprecedented data center reliability […]
A couple weeks ago I came across the following chart illustrating the growth in EHR adoption since 2011. It was in a LinkedIn post from Jeffrey L. Brown, CIO at Martin’s Point Health Care. Source: LinkedIn post by Jeffrey L. Brown, CIO at Martin’s Point Health Care This chart grabbed my attention, made me scratch […]
I’m an Apple guy with Microsoft tendencies. iPhone. Check. AirPods. Right on. MacBook Pro. Bullseye! You see, I love my Apple devices, but remain a huge and growing fan of the Microsoft stack of offerings to help businesses – including healthcare organizations. I have wonderful news to share! Microsoft has equipped you with many arrows. These arrows from are […]
Introduction: Microsoft’s recent introduction of Fabric has sparked considerable interest and curiosity within the technology and data analytics community. At first glance, it may appear to be a strategic marketing move by Microsoft to consolidate its existing Azure capabilities into a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. However, a deeper analysis reveals that Fabric holds the potential to address several industry challenges […]
Being partially rooted in technology (and partially in healthcare), our team often thinks in threes just like Steve Jobs. If you read our last couple of installments, you’ll notice our slight obsession with the number 3! Let the obsession continue! First, a little background on today’s topic… Cost is always a crucial element to consider when executing […]
Let’s be honest… Implementing technology-related changes to your practice often creates stress — especially when those changes affect the maintenance and management of your valuable data. When Microsoft ends support for SQL Server 2008 R2, it’s important to move to an option that alleviates that stress in your practice – both the tension of transition […]
Change is never easy, especially in regard to technology and your EHR. When Microsoft ends supporting SQL Server 2008 R2 in July, it’s understandable to have questions arise. Rather than these questions raising alarm, let us help guide this change with confidence. Microsoft provides a solution for your practice through their Azure cloud services. Through […]
It’s coming… Windows Server and SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 were widely popular when launched almost ten years ago. With the decade anniversary right around the corner, support for both editions is coming to an end. As we’ve discussed in our previous series of articles on the topic, leveraging a cloud-based solution is a […]
The shift from fee-for-service to value-based care is well underway, and like it or not, gaining momentum. This shift is accompanied by many questions, a sense of uncertainty and an appetite for guidance. With this in mind, our team at Focus Solutions is sharing a three-part series of short articles dedicated to value-based care. […]
If you’ve been reading our recent series of posts, you’re likely already aware of the many benefits of moving your practice and your EHR to the cloud: speed, flexibility, minimized costs, improved performance, and enhanced reliability. Despite these benefits, our Focus Solutions team recognizes many practices will still need to run on premises datacenters after […]
Changes are coming to the healthcare technology landscape and options exist beyond your current ecosystem. Our objective is to keep you aware and help you prepare. Focus Solutions, a physician owned technology company, helps practices like yours better navigate an ever-changing EHR landscape. Our team has 75+ years experience working with and supporting hundreds of […]
It’s never a big surprise when technology changes, but sometimes it takes us a minute to react. Okay, maybe more like a few months. Well, change is coming! On July 9, 2019, Microsoft is ending support for SQL Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2012 and 2016 aren’t far behind, coming to a gradual close in […]
Surprise, surprise! While planning for Microsoft’s end of support for SQL Server 2008 R2, a primary determining factor for your practice should be security. Bear in mind, about 70 percent of ransomware attacks in 2018 targeted small to medium-sized businesses. Scarier yet, according to a recent report from Beazley Breach Response Services, the healthcare sector is taking the […]
We’ve all experienced it. You’re on a call and your cell phone connection starts to break up. Your four bars evaporate in an instant and the call screeches to a halt. This is generally just an inconvenience of our modern lives – one that we’ve become accustomed to. However, can you imagine if your phone […]
SaaS PaaS IaaS That’s whole lot of a’s and S’s in your alphabet soup. It can also represent a whole lot of confusion. Each of these solutions – Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – has its place. We believe that IaaS should have a […]
Geo Replication – 3 Things Your Practice Must Know Hurricanes & floods. Volcanic eruptions & quakes. Terrorism & cyber attacks. Think for a minute. Think beyond the movie storylines. Think about the unthinkable and your healthcare practice… What would it mean if your EHR went offline for multiple days or weeks based on one of the above […]
It’s been a while since my last post – it’s good to be back at it! Change is definitely in the air. Looking out my window, the signs of nature hinting at a cool autumn are definitely present – busy squirrels and leaves beginning to adopt new colors. Shifting my gaze to the Slack window […]
EHR + Microsoft Azure We’re breaking the traditional mold by helping our clients find a new way to host their EHR system. A new way that minimizes headaches to your practice AND maximizes your investment. Finding the appropriate hosting solution for your EHR system is a daunting task. Comparing features and pricing can leave your […]
Strategic Data Integration: Unleashing the Power of INSIGHTS powered by Focus Solutions As healthcare organizations continue to grow and adapt to the demands of a complex industry, the need for a versatile and robust analytics platform becomes increasingly crucial. INSIGHTS powered by Focus Solutions stands out for its remarkable ability to integrate seamlessly with existing […]
The Cyber Pulse Check: Is Your Healthcare System at Risk? Technology usually isn’t the first word that comes to mind when thinking about healthcare. Until your stethoscope requires two-factor authentication. The truth is cyber threats are changing how every healthcare organization thinks (and responds) to ransomware attacks. From data management to network security, there’s a […]
The Myths Behind Cybersecurity: You Can’t Secure What You Can’t See 81% of healthcare breaches start with a system the organization didn’t even know was vulnerable. At Focus Solutions, we help healthcare leaders secure what they can’t see—so patient care doesn’t miss a beat. Our infrastructure assessments uncover hidden vulnerabilities before they turn into costly […]
PHOENIX, AZ – Focus Solutions, a managed IT provider specializing in healthcare, today announced a strategic partnership with Valley ENT, one of Arizona’s largest ENT specialty groups, supporting 60+ providers and over 275 users across 15 locations. Focus Solutions was selected following an infrastructure assessment that revealed critical gaps in technology management and service delivery. Valley ENT, […]
It’s Monday morning. You walk into your practice ready for a full day of patients, and every screen flashes the same message: “Your files have been encrypted. Pay $50,000 in Bitcoin or your patient records go public.” Here’s the thing: many practice leaders believe they’re protected when they’re actually exposed. They’ve invested in compliance training, […]
The Dangerous Assumption During a routine Tuesday morning partner meeting at a thriving 5-provider practice in suburban Ohio, cybersecurity surfaces on the agenda once again. The managing partner reviews the security proposal, then sets it aside. “Eh, we’re five doctors in suburban Ohio. Hackers target the big systems with millions of records, not practices like […]
Make October count: protect credentials before they cost you October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. If your practice still relies on passwords alone, this is your month to fix it. Most breaches trace back to people. The 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found the human element in 68% of breaches, staff getting phished, reusing passwords, […]
Most practice leaders operate on dangerous assumptions. “We’re too small to target.” “HIPAA compliance keeps us safe.” These sound reasonable. Until you look at the numbers. This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’re cutting through the noise to give you what independent healthcare practices actually need: practical, high-impact security moves you can implement without adding headcount or […]
As October’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month reminds us, the threats facing healthcare organizations are evolving faster than most security programs can keep pace. For scaling practices managing multiple locations and rapid growth, one uncomfortable truth is becoming impossible to ignore: having cyber insurance coverage and being covered when you file a claim are two very […]
It’s 8:47 AM at the front desk. You have 47 unread emails waiting between patient check-ins. One catches your eye: “EHR System Alert: Verify Your Credentials Within 24 Hours to Avoid Account Lockout.” Your mouse hovers over the link. Is this real? Your EHR vendor sends these sometimes, right? This exact moment happens thousands of […]
Your providers are saving 2-3 hours per day with AI documentation. Burnout’s dropping. Patient satisfaction is climbing. Everything looks great on the surface. But here’s what’s keeping security experts up at night: that same AI tool recording patient conversations is creating vulnerabilities across your entire MSO network that you probably haven’t even considered. Do you […]
You’ve just acquired your third practice this year. Each location runs different systems. Your IT team says they’re “working on standardization,” but you know that means months of incomplete security coverage. Meanwhile, your board wants assurance that patient data is protected across all sites. This gap between growth and security keeps expanding. You add locations […]
If you’re running a multi-site healthcare organization, you’ve probably had the ransomware conversation with your board. Not if it will happen, but what you’ll do when it does. And the question that always comes up first is surprisingly simple: should we just pay? It’s a fair question. The logic seems straightforward. Pay the ransom, get […]
“HIPAA compliant” and “secure” are not the same thing, but you’d never know it from the way most healthcare organizations talk about their cybersecurity posture. The assumption that passing a compliance audit means your practice is protected from cyberattacks has become one of the most persistent and dangerous beliefs in healthcare IT, and the consequences […]
An evolution reflecting who we’ve become If you’ve known us as Focus Solutions, you’ve watched us grow. What started as EHR implementation and consulting has become something more integrated, more strategic, and more accountable than that name could hold. Today, we’re making it official. We are now simply Focus. What changed, and why The word […]
The insource-versus-outsource decision in healthcare IT sounds like it should be simple. Either you build a team internally to handle your technology, or you hire an outside partner to do it. One costs more in salary and overhead. The other costs more in contracts and less control. Run the math, make a call. In […]
An AI readiness assessment evaluates whether your organization has the data infrastructure, security posture, governance framework, and operational maturity to adopt AI tools effectively and compliantly. In healthcare, that assessment carries additional weight because of the regulatory environment, the sensitivity of the data, and the operational complexity of clinical workflows. That’s the formal definition. […]
A healthcare data warehouse is a centralized system that pulls data from your EHR, billing platform, scheduling tools, and other operational systems into a single environment built for reporting and analysis. Instead of logging into four different platforms to answer one question, you query one data source that has already organized the information into […]
An MSO (managed services organization) in healthcare is a business entity that provides non-clinical administrative and operational support to physician practices. That typically includes some combination of billing, HR, IT, compliance, vendor management, and payer contracting. The physician practice retains control over clinical care. The MSO handles the business side. That’s the textbook answer. The […]
An EHR data conversion is the process of extracting clinical and operational data from your current electronic health record system and migrating it into a new one. It typically takes 14 to 18 weeks from kickoff to completion, involves multiple phases of data extraction, transformation, and validation, and it is almost certainly more complex […]
A healthcare MSP (managed service provider) is a company that manages the IT infrastructure, security, and technology operations for a physician practice or healthcare organization. That typically includes helpdesk support, network management, device management, cybersecurity, HIPAA compliance, and some level of ongoing strategic guidance about your technology environment. That definition covers a lot of […]
If your practice just hired its first CTO or CIO, you’ve made a decision that will reshape how your organization thinks about technology for years. That’s the right move. But what happens next is almost never what either side expects. In mid-market healthcare, the first dedicated technology executive might be called a CTO, a […]
You didn’t take this job because you don’t know technology. You took it because a mid-market healthcare organization decided it was time to put a dedicated technology leader on the leadership team, and they hired you to be the first person in this seat. That means there’s no playbook waiting for you. The role […]
An HR analyst at a 3,000-person hospital system used Microsoft Copilot to look up employee benefits. Routine query, nothing unusual. The response came back with patient treatment notes pulled from a SharePoint folder that had been sitting there for four years with broad permissions that nobody had ever cleaned up. One query. Forty-seven patient records […]
MIT researchers looked at 150 interviews, a 350-person survey, and data from 300 public AI deployments. Their conclusion: 95 percent of organizations deploying generative AI are seeing zero measurable return on their investment. Not low returns. Zero. RAND Corporation ran a separate meta-analysis across 65 documented enterprise AI initiatives and found that 80 percent fail […]
When your practice decides to move to a new EHR (electronic health records), one of the first questions that comes up is “what about the data?” You’ve got years of patient records, appointment history, clinical notes, and billing information living inside your current system, and all of it needs to go somewhere. Here’s the short […]
Who this is for: You’re switching EHR systems and trying to figure out what the conversion process should look like Your group is acquiring practices that will need to be brought onto the same platform You’re a practice administrator who wants to know what separates a smooth transition from a difficult one You’re an EHR […]
Key takeaways Go-live isn’t the finish line. It’s the start of a 90-day window where your clinical data is still converting, your billing team is running two systems, and the person at your EHR vendor who guided your implementation is about to hand you off to someone new. On top of that, the IT, […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE As healthcare organizations struggle with the growing complexity of technology, Focus continues to build a more unified approach. CHICAGO, IL [07-22-26] – Technology is more essential to healthcare than ever before. Yet for many healthcare organizations, every new capability has come with another vendor, another contract, another support team, and another layer […]
Key takeaways A clinical conversion usually finishes after go-live, and most practices keep read-only access to their old system for 90 to 120 days while billing winds down. Your data is at its freshest during this window. The risk with AI in healthcare is what the tool can reach: old documentation that has been […]
Who this is for: You’re in the middle of an electronic health record (EHR) implementation, and go-live is approaching You’re coordinating a transition, and you want the practice fully prepared before switch day Your group signed with a new EHR vendor, and you’re planning everything that needs to happen between now and go-live In […]
Point AI at your EHR and billing data without governance and you don’t just get a wrong dashboard. You get competing versions of the truth and protected data reaching places it shouldn’t. Here’s why governance sits with your IT, security, and data team, not in a policy binder. Key takeaways When staff can build […]
Key takeaways The line between proactive and reactive IT is whether you hear about a problem from a monitoring alert at 6:40 in the morning, or from a provider who can’t pull up an image at 8 with a patient in the chair. Real monitoring is a person, not a dashboard. Anyone can make an […]
Cybersecurity in a practice isn’t really about the tools. It’s about four outcomes: patient care, patient information, compliance, and staying open. Here’s how they fit together. Key takeaways Strip cybersecurity down and a medical practice is protecting four things: patient care, patient information, regulatory compliance, and business continuity. Every security decision should ladder up to […]
When you’re rolling up practices, the technology environment you inherit is either a clean handoff or a hidden liability. Here’s how to know which one you’re buying, before the deal closes. Key takeaways When a group acquires a practice, the technology team is one of the first real touchpoints with that new practice, so a […]
Articles, case studies, and practice-specific guidance on IT, security, and data, delivered when something worth reading goes up. Written for the people running practices, not IT departments.
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The full library covers IT, security, data, and the broader decisions that shape how healthcare practices run. Here is where to find the rest.
Infrastructure, help desk, and the operational stability that keeps your practice running without disruption.
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HIPAA, ransomware, audit readiness, and the security questions healthcare practices are actually dealing with.
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EHR migration guides, conversion timelines, and analytics resources for practices moving or scaling.
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Real practices, real problems, real outcomes. Read how Focus has worked alongside practices like yours.
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Tim Coan's podcast on healthcare technology, practice operations, and the decisions that move practices forward.
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Guides and perspectives on expansion, acquisitions, multi-site operations, and the technology decisions that support growth.
Most of what we publish comes from questions our clients ask us every week. If something you read raised a specific question about your practice, we are happy to talk through it. No pitch, no pressure.
