CG Healthcare

Healthcare Firm Uses New Hosted Solution to Control Costs and Improve Communication

CG Healthcare Solutions, located in New Jersey, provides medical billing, accounts receivable management, and other services to a growing number of physicians and medical offices. The organization’s three IT employees also work for the company’s larger parent company and frequently work overtime. Recently, the company needed to address e-mail security concerns and wanted to find a new communication solution, but it only had limited resources. In October 2007, CG Healthcare Solutions deployed the Business Productivity Online Suite from Microsoft® Online Services, a group of hosted services such as Microsoft Exchange Online for e-mail and Microsoft Office Live Meeting for Web conferencing. The firm now has a low-cost, easy-to-manage solution that gives IT employees time to focus on long-term goals. The solution also improves employee communication and provides enhanced security.

Situation

Based in Toms River, New Jersey, CG Healthcare Solutions LLC provides medical billing services, accounts receivable management, consulting, and compliance services to physician practices throughout New Jersey. The company, which has 11 employees, is an affiliate of Cowan, Gunteski & Co., P.A., a leading New Jersey accounting and consulting firm that provides business consulting, profit enhancement, wealth management, and litigation support in addition to traditional accounting and tax services. Together, CG Healthcare Solutions and Cowan, Gunteski & Co. have nearly 60 employees.

The CG Healthcare Solutions IT environment, which is based on Windows Server® 2003 operating system, includes heavily used applications for medical billing, as well as Microsoft® Office 2003 products such as Microsoft Office Word 2003 and Office Excel® 2003 spreadsheet software. Employees send and receive e-mail messages through the company’s POP3 e-mail network.

The organization’s three IT employees, who manage the IT environments for both CG Healthcare Solutions and the Cowan, Gunteski & Co., often feel overwhelmed with tasks.

CG Healthcare Solutions is a small company . . . so the Business Productivity Online Suite is the perfect solution for us. We don’t have to purchase new servers or other IT components.  Paul Barresi IT Manager CG Healthcare/Cowan, Gunteski & Co.

“Like many IT departments, we could definitely use more help here. We frequently stay in the office after business hours to finish IT projects,” says Paul Barresi, IT Manager, CG Healthcare Solutions/Cowan, Gunteski & Co. That is especially true during tax season, which takes place from January 1 to April 15. “During that time, we work almost 24 hours every day between the three of us, mostly on e-mail system troubleshooting and network maintenance,” he says. “Many of the accountants work from home, even late at night, and they need to be able to access their applications without any problems.”

Managing system security is another challenge. “As an accounting firm, we have to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. Our financial records must be accurate and secure,” says Barresi. However, the security for the organization’s POP3 e-mail system was somewhat limited by a Symantec antivirus solution. “That is mainly used to protect individual computers, and a lot of things still get through,” Barresi admits. “It is not as reliable or effective as other data protection solutions.”

CG Healthcare Solutions employees also struggle to communicate effectively with e-mail as the sole communication tool. “Every time our medical billing employees have to meet with a physician about billing or accounting, they have to travel to that physician’s office,” Barresi states. “It is very time-consuming and inconvenient, and there was no good communication or collaboration system in place here.”

As a small organization, however, CG Healthcare Solutions did not have the financial resources available for the implementation of a new solution that would help it resolve some of its business challenges. “Our IT budget was allocated for other projects,” confirms Barresi. “Investing a large sum of money in a new IT infrastructure for CG Healthcare Solutions was not a high priority for the firm.”

Solution

In October 2007, Cowan, Gunteski & Co. was invited to participate in an early adopter program for the Business Productivity Online Suite from Microsoft Online Services. This group of products, hosted and managed by Microsoft, includes Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services. Exchange Online includes hosted support for enterprise e-mail, calendar, and address lists; Office SharePoint Online provides access to an online portal; Office Communications Online provides instant messaging and presence capabilities, and Office Live Meeting provides hosted Web conferencing capabilities. Companies can subscribe to each service in the Business Productivity Online Suite by paying a small monthly fee per employee. 

While participating in the early adopter program, Barresi realized that the Business Productivity Online Suite would actually work well for CG Healthcare Solutions. “I could see that these hosted services would serve our affiliate company better,” he says. “This seemed like the right solution due to our budget constraints for that company.”

Barresi was also attracted to the enhanced protection provided by the Business Productivity Online Suite. Exchange Online, for example, receives protection from Microsoft Forefront™ antivirus and antispam filters, and Office SharePoint Online is protected by Forefront Security for SharePoint. Furthermore, Exchange Hosted Services uses multiple technologies to help companies prevent spam and e-mail-borne viruses from reaching their networks. 

Soon after gaining familiarity with the features of the Business Productivity Online Suite, Barresi decided to implement these new online services within CG Healthcare Solutions.

Benefits

The Business Productivity Online Suite from Microsoft Online Services gives CG Healthcare Solutions a way to decrease operational costs, simplify IT management, and save valuable time for IT administrators. Additionally, the solution’s features help the company provide better communication tools and enhanced customer data protection.

Employees here can do their jobs better and more productively by taking advantage of the Business Productivity Online Suite.  Paul Barresi IT Manager CG Healthcare Solutions/Cowan, Gunteski & Co.

Decreases Costs

The Business Productivity Online Suite is hosted and managed by Microsoft, which gives CG Healthcare Solutions the ability to decrease operating costs. “CG Healthcare Solutions is a small company with limited funds allocated to its IT infrastructure, so the Business Productivity Online Suite is the perfect solution for us,” Barresi says. “We don’t have to purchase new servers or other IT components. We simply had to buy a few licenses and get connected.”

In the past, Barresi says the organization’s IT priorities prevented him from upgrading certain systems. “I wanted to get new e-mail, collaboration, and security solutions, but the money was allocated to different projects,” he says. “With this hosted model, I can give our users what they need without worrying about taking money away from other important initiatives.”

Eases IT Management

With the Business Productivity Online Suite, IT managers like Barresi do not have to spend time and effort in installation, because the process of onboarding is so easy. “Actually getting up and running with the Business Productivity Online Suite is quick and effortless,” Barresi says. “For Exchange Online, as an example, all I needed was a domain and access to the Domain Name Server records, and the service was operational within minutes. It doesn’t take much technical knowledge at all.”

Once the Business Productivity Online Suite is operational, IT managers can also maintain it very easily, because all the services are managed through a single Web-based interface. Using this interface, Barresi can monitor performance, add new users, and submit and monitor technical support requests. “Monitoring everything is not complicated,” he says. “It’s all in one place, which obviously simplifies my job a lot. In fact, once everything is set up, it basically runs itself.”

Saves Time

Barresi and his fellow IT staff members also save time with the new solution, because they no longer need to address POP3 e-mail system problems or other administrative issues related to messaging and collaboration. “Because of the Business Productivity Online Suite, I am able to cut many hours out of my work week,” says Barresi. “I divide my time between two separate organizations, and having to concentrate on configuration and maintenance of these services would have taken my time away from one of them. Instead, I actually have more time to give to both CG Healthcare Solutions and the parent company.”

With more time at his disposal, Barresi can focus on the long-term IT goals of CG Healthcare Solutions. “Now that we have the Business Productivity Online Suite, I am able to spend more time researching new technology and concentrating on our five-year plan, instead of worrying about the e-mail system not working or the Exchange Server being slow,” he says. “Instead of being bogged down by small details every day, the Business Productivity Online Suite helps me get more of a handle on the big picture. I can devote my time to our infrastructure instead of worrying about the technology issues.”

Improves Employee Communication

Previously, CG Healthcare Solutions employees were unable to communicate effectively about internal projects. E-mail messages and phone calls were the only methods for discussing projects. Now, though, communication is much faster and more effective with Office SharePoint Online. “Our collaboration, in particular, was almost nonexistent,” Barresi says. “But now, employees can easily share customer documents in a SharePoint directory. Medical billing data and other customer information are far easier to find, and collaboration is much improved. Employees here can do their jobs better and more productively by taking advantage of the Business Productivity Online Suite.”

With Office Live Meeting, CG Healthcare employees do not have to rely on time-consuming face-to-face meetings with physicians in order to gather new or updated data. “We work for physician practices that are located in many different locations,” Barresi says. “With Office Live Meeting, we don’t have to drive to those places anymore because it can all be done online. Instead of worrying about the logistics of a meeting, our employees can concentrate on the actual business they need to discuss.”

Enhances System Security

Overall system security is also enhanced with the new solution, because of the protection provided by Microsoft Forefront. “Security is a critical part of our business, especially with our Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory needs,” Barresi says. “I am very confident in the security of the Business Productivity Online Suite. We have strong protection and have had no problems whatsoever.”

Barresi is also impressed with the solution’s overall system support, based on his experience so far. “Technical support has been wonderful. If I have a question or an issue, I simply pick up the phone and there’s always someone there to help me out right away,” he says. “Along with the security features, this gives me a high degree of confidence in the reliability of this solution.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about CG Healthcare products and services, call (732) 818-0067 or visit the Web site at:
www.cghealthcaresolutions.com

For more information about Cowan, Gunteski & Co. P.A. products and services, call (732) 349-6880 or visit the Web site at:
www.cowangunteski.com

Microsoft Online Services

Microsoft Online Services is a business-class communications and collaboration software offering delivered as a subscription service, hosted by Microsoft and sold with partners. These services help make it easier for customers to rapidly and cost-effectively access the most up-to-date technologies, and are designed for rapid deployment to provide customers with streamlined communications, simplified management, and business-class reliability and security.
 
For IT staff, Microsoft Online Services helps reduce the burden of performing routine IT management tasks such as installation, provisioning, ongoing maintenance, patches, updates and upgrades, enabling them to spend more time on initiatives that move the business forward. These services are backed by strong SLAs and are designed to meet the regulatory compliance and reliability needs of enterprise customers. On a technical level, the services boast the sophistication and reliability that customers expect from Microsoft, which continues to invest heavily in building data centers to support these services.

For more information, visit:
www.microsoft.com/online

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published September 2008