The Datamax Thinking Blog

Lexmark’s Translation Assistant offers real-time document language translation at your fingertips.  

The language we use in business, on campus, or in the hospital waiting room has a great impact on those we serve. The responsibility to use language effectively only heightens when it serves not as a bridge to better communication, but as an unbreakable barrier.  

How do healthcare organizations keep up to speed with patient expectations? How do they engage the right channels to connect to both consumers and their staff?

You only have to spend 1 minute in a hospital to understand just how much healthcare staff remains constantly “on the move.”

As nurses scurry from room to room, wing to wing, and doctors serve in multiple locations on any given day (or completely remotely), there are new waves of movement inside healthcare: Mobile clinics are on the rise, telehealth has exploded, and (perhaps most notably), the patient expectation has evolved.

With growing compliance pressures, and as facilities grapple with ways to be more productive, healthcare organizations need to easily and efficiently send authenticated documents without disrupting their existing workflow processes.

First, a few fax facts.

• The first ever transmission of an image over a wire was performed by Alexander Bain on an experimental fax machine in 1843.
• A survey done by IDG research found that cloud faxing is used for 31% of total faxing activity today among companies that have implemented the method, with that number expected to increase to 71% over the next three years.
• According to IDC’s fax survey, 90% of respondents indicated either that their organization had already integrated fax with other technologies/applications or were evaluating options to do so.

Nearly a third of all healthcare employee respondents (32%) said that they had never received cybersecurity training from their workplace ... but should have.

Healthcare today has its share of gaps: Gaps in healthcare access, gaps in the treatment of chronic diseases, and gaps in communication between patient and provider.

But what about the existing gaps in a medical facility's IT security plan?

2018 was a record breaking year for OCR enforcement of HIPAA fines and settlements.

When it comes to HIPAA violations, healthcare organizations for years have gone the way of the ostrich, burying their heads in the sand at the prospect of facing penalties from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

But if the last year proved one thing, it’s this: You can run, but continuing to hide is a potentially costly risk. 

The right technology partner can ensure long-term wellness for your organization: From security/compliance peace of mind, to highly efficient workflow processes and optimal uptime on your fleet of equipment. 

An annual check-up is a routinely prescribed course of action for adults to ensure long-term wellness. But that’s not the end-game.

True wellness is not defined by any one current ailment or appointment; it’s an actively pursued goal of maintaining good health based on a myriad of ongoing good habits. To ensure overall wellness for their print fleet, a healthcare organization needs much more than an annual checkup.

Paired with a barrage of potential threats, yet brimming with productive potential, technology plays an intimate role in the routines of today’s business workday. When well harnessed, it can unlock unforeseen competitive advantages.

Henry Ford once said, "I don't read history. That's in the past. I'm thinking of the future."

Ford, of course, was the Michigan-born engineer who developed a petrol-driven quadricycle into a small car; this proved the basis for the famous Model T motor car introduced in 1908. Just as Ford’s ingenuity forever transformed the auto industry, technology has been a driving force in business transformation for years.

As we look at the state of technology as it relates to business in 2019, Ford’s quote has a profound foreshadowing effect.

From document workflow, network security to print management and many things in between, our intent is to serve as a vehicle for helping YOU maximize YOUR technology investment.

Technology, much like life, moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

We, the dedicated scribes of the Datamax Thinking Blog, certainly don’t want our readers to miss it. We work hard each year to contemplate, to evaluate and, ultimately, educate on many of the moving parts of an ever-changing business technology landscape. From document workflow, network security to print management and many things in between, our intent is to serve as a vehicle for helping YOU maximize YOUR technology investment.

Your plan should begin with a Security Risk Analysis. It should also continue with the construction of a long-term compliance framework, one that offers visibility into current risks and reinforces firm security-related policies and procedures. 

When it comes to your healthcare organization and HIPAA, failure (to comply) is not an option.

It cannot be a one-time snapshot, or a one-time risk assessment. It has to be a continuous, ongoing process." -  Navin Balakrishnaraja, National Practice Director, Healthcare IT Services for All Covered (IT Services, Konica Minolta)

All organizations are guilty of just “going through the motions” at times.

A client services specialist leaning too heavily on his company script. The sales representative who meets her quota but fails to concentrate on continued professional development (aka, the learning zone). There are countless scenarios within a work place where crucial tasks are tackled without enthusiasm or a particular level of involvement.

But few, if any, carry the level of risk of a healthcare facility just going through the motions with its cybersecurity plan. The organization must navigate this landscape carefully, and with a trusted map that leads to long-term security and compliance for the unpredictable journey ahead.