All IT managers face pressure to keep customers happy – but HIPAA regulations that require meticulous siloing of medical records add a whole new level of stress.
“If anything happens and patient information leaks out, it’s a huge fine,” says Nick Cappello, IT manager at Georgia Bone & Joint Surgeons, P.C. “And if it’s something where I should’ve known better, I could actually see jail time.”
As the sole IT manager at a medium-sized clinic, Mr. Cappello depends on his remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to manage and monitor all of his devices. He also manages several virtual servers for various pieces of complex medical equipment that he runs on a single physical machine. In the unlikely event of a successful cyberattack, Mr. Cappello would also rely on the RMM to help the Department of Health and Human Services reconstruct what happened.
“If you’re breached, that’s when you get the government coming in and they go over things with a fine-toothed comb – and I mean a fine-toothed comb.”
The Trouble With His Previous RMM
After he came onboard as the IT manager at Georgia Bone and Joint, Mr. Cappello became dissatisfied with the RMM then installed in the office. So he began a trial of NinjaOne to make sure that it could help address some of the pain points.
Mr. Cappello spent a couple of months trying out NinjaOne as a way to perform due diligence. He also had to get his colleagues at Georgia Bone & Joint used to the idea of a new product.
“They liked the old way of coming into their laptops from a regular web page,” he says. “But now that I’ve shown them TeamViewer, they love that better.”
The previous RMM was not nearly as elegant with its patching solution as NinjaOne was, Mr. Cappello says. “Ninja basically is a lot easier to go ahead and get the patching information I need. I know I’m going to see a little yellow patch that says, ‘hey, I got this patch but I’m not sure that you want it installed?’ Great – love that feature.”
Mr. Cappello also likes NinjaOne’s alerting and ease-of-troubleshooting when a scheduled patch doesn’t go through.
“It’s got the red one saying ‘I tried to install this, there’s no way it’s gonna be installed.’ So then I take a look and, [for example], say ‘The machine needs to be rebooted. Let me reboot it before the patch goes through.”
And he also feels that his previous solution had a lot of false alerts. “Like it would say that something was utilizing 90 percent of the disk space, when it wasn’t.”
Mr. Cappello appreciates that NinjaOne not only saves alerts for serious conditions that require remediation, but that that there is a “self-healing” option. On occasion after an alert has fired, NinjaOne will check again – if the situation has resolved, the platform will automatically cancel the alert.
A U.I. That Works For HIPAA Compliance
Mr. Cappello also felt that his previous solution didn’t offer the easy-to-use UI and reporting capacity he needed to operate in the tricky realm of HIPAA compliance, with its potential legal pitfalls.
“I hold a very big weight on my shoulders here,” he says. “And NinjaOne makes that weight a heck of a lot easier with the integration of TeamViewer, and also with the way that you guys had your dashboard laid out.”
And in his efforts to keep his systems well-documented, in order to remain in compliance with HIPAA, Mr. Cappello found that NinjaOne helped him attain peace of mind. “I can tell which computer’s up-to-date, what security patches have been there, who’s been on there, what they’ve seen. If someone installs something on there, I know when it’s been installed, because I can look back. It makes it incredibly easy for me to get that part done, and that is a big part of this stuff we call HIPAA.”
In particular, Mr. Cappello praises the user interface, which allows him to monitor his endpoints, patching, and network health, all behind an easy-to-navigate single pane of glass. And in case of a hypothetical government audit, he’s confident that he’ll be able to find the records he needs with ease.
“Because you guys keep very meticulous records, you tell me when programs have been installed, you tell me when stuff has been updated,” Mr. Cappello says. “You tell me, so therefore, I don’t have to worry about it. God, do I love that.”
“You can go and quote me: every medium or small-sized clinic should have Ninja in their toolbox – because of HIPAA.”
He does not look back fondly on using his previous RMM, which made his HIPAA reporting a nightmare.
“Holy cow, it was that the worst. If I had to find what patch was late, I’d have to pore through at least 2,000 emails to find one that said: “Oh yeah, we patched this or not.”
Freestyling About RMM Software
When invited to sum up his thoughts, Mr. Cappello offers a strong endorsement of NinjaOne to any small or medium-sized MSPs in the market, particularly those required to be HIPAA-compliant
“So let me go ahead and freestyle here,” he says. “If you are a small or medium-sized MSP that are dealing with small or medium-sized businesses, by all means go to Ninja. You will go ahead and not only get a quick set-up, it’ll be intuitive, it’ll be practical, and it’s gonna save you money in the long run.”
And he adds that NinjaOne is particularly strong for customers who need to stay organized for purposes of HIPAA compliance.
“Number two, HIPAA people! Go to Ninja, get happy with Ninja. If you are a small to medium clinic, flock to Ninja. You will have such an easier way to go ahead and get every single thing that HHS is going to ask you to do on a daily basis. It’s gonna be automated, it’s going to be there, and it’s gonna be easy to find. With the reporting features that are there, it’s gonna be great. You guys are gonna love it!”
How NinjaOne Can Help
While it’s ultimately up to employees and the organization to meet the standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), using the right software can help relax your mental load. NinjaOne provides several cloud-based software solutions to help IT service providers grow their business, and some of the product features may help you with your compliance efforts.
To schedule a free trial of NinjaOne, please contact [email protected].
