When a care organization outgrows the part-time IT person or the favorite computer contractor, the next step is often an outsourced helpdesk or a fully managed IT provider. The sales conversations tend to sound similar: fast response, friendly support, affordable monthly price. Telling providers apart requires better questions.
Here is a set of questions designed for administrators and owners of skilled nursing, assisted living and clinic organizations, grouped by theme.
Do you support long-term care or healthcare organizations today? Healthcare environments have unique systems, such as EMRs, eFax, medication carts and nurse call, and unique rules. A provider who understands them will troubleshoot faster and avoid risky shortcuts.
Are you familiar with our EMR and the vendors around it? For example, can they work effectively with PointClickCare, pharmacy systems and therapy software, and coordinate with those vendors when a problem crosses boundaries?
Will you sign a business associate agreement? Any provider that can access systems holding PHI should be ready to sign one without hesitation.
What hours do you cover? A facility runs around the clock. Ask specifically about nights, weekends and holidays, and whether after-hours calls reach a real person.
How do you define priorities, and what are your response targets? Look for written targets by severity, and ask how they are measured. Ask for a plain-language description of what an urgent issue means for a nurse trying to pass medications.
Who answers the phone? Ask whether support is in-house or subcontracted, where the team is located, and whether staff will get the same people repeatedly or a different voice each time.
Do you offer on-site support? Some problems need hands on equipment. Find out how quickly someone can be on site in your area and what it costs.
What is included and what is extra? Clarify whether the price covers user support, device management, security tools, backup monitoring, vendor coordination, projects and travel. Ambiguity here is the source of many disputes.
How do you handle projects? Moving a facility, building a new wing or replacing a network are projects with separate scopes. Ask how they are quoted.
Will you manage our vendors? A good provider will contact the internet carrier, phone company and software vendors on your behalf instead of telling you to call them.
How do you secure your own environment? Your provider has deep access to your systems, so they are an attractive target. Ask about multi-factor authentication for their staff, separation of client credentials, background checks and incident reporting.
What security services are part of the offering? Look for endpoint protection, patching, email filtering, backup monitoring and help with risk analysis.
How will you help with HIPAA? A provider is not a substitute for your compliance officer, but they should supply evidence, such as patching reports, access reviews and backup test results.
What happens during a security incident? Ask who calls whom, what response times apply, and whether incident response is included or billed separately.
What will I see each month? Request sample reports covering ticket volume, response times, recurring issues, patch status and project updates.
Will we own our documentation and credentials? You should always have access to network diagrams, passwords for critical systems and licensing information. Avoid situations where leaving the provider means starting from scratch.
Who is my point of contact? Look for a named account manager or technical lead who understands your facility, plus a path for escalation.
How long is the term, and how can I exit? Ask about notice periods, auto-renewal clauses and the process for transferring knowledge and credentials if you leave.
How are price changes handled? Look for clarity on annual increases and what triggers a different tier.
Ask to speak with two or three current clients of similar size and type. Ask them about responsiveness, honesty when something goes wrong, and how the provider handled a real outage. Pay attention to chemistry as well. You will be working with these people during stressful moments.
Reluctance to sign a BAA or share a sample report
Vague answers about after-hours coverage
Pressure to sign quickly
A price far below others, with unclear scope
No documented onboarding process
UnityCare IT provides helpdesk and managed IT for healthcare organizations in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. We are happy to answer every question on this list, and if you are comparing providers, we will gladly help you build a fair side-by-side comparison.
Call or text: 405-285-3845
New customers: start@unitycareit.com
Existing customers: support@unitycareit.com
Address: UnityCare Technologies, 2524 N Broadway Ste 554, PMB 947974, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034-4172