Shelter Blue Transition Process:
- Upon confirmation of the pricing structure, individual doctor communication will be distributed within the week. The email will be structured with an introduction to myself, the decision to transition from ShelterBlue, pricing structure, schedule time for site visits, and information that other security measures will most likely take effect (Active Directory & Firewall changes).
Email Template:
Hello Dr. __________;
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself because I don't think we've had the opportunity to connect yet during my first few months at PepperPointe. My name is Brandon Muncy, and I am the IT Director for PepperPointe. My goal is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of IT support and compliance among all practices that we serve.
Over the last few months, we have developed an internal IT team at PepperPointe — all in an effort to transition support from ShelterBlue. We are recommending this transition because we believe our internal team can better support you and your practice and improve security and compliance to you and your practice. We do not anticipate any downtime or disruptions during this transition and will do everything we can to minimize disruptions to your business operations. PepperPointe will ensure that your expenses for IT services for 2023 and support will not increase from your ShelterBlue expenses incurred in 2022 while providing higher-level support and working to improve each practice's security.
To ensure that we completely understand your IT infrastructure and needs, I would like to schedule a visit from my team to evaluate the practice. During this visit, I would like for me or my staff to have a conversation with you and the office manager to discuss your current IT setup, identify any pain points or areas for improvement, and make sure that we have all the information we need to provide you with the best possible service.
Please let me know what dates and times work best for you. I am available to meet with you and your team at your convenience, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you for your time, and I am looking forward to working with you,
- Upon acknowledgment from the doctor, we will schedule with the practice an onsite visit to perform an evaluation on their setup.
- During each evaluation, we will follow the checklist of items to ensure that we notate all details related to the practice. Categories include Hardware & Software, Networking, Security, and Non-IT Equipment
- After reviewing the site evaluation with the staff, we will prepare our recommendation for the practice and utilize the following template:
Post Evaluation Email
Hello!
Thank you for allowing my team time to visit the office to perform an evaluation and gather information on your practice’s IT setup. As of this email, we have removed ShelterBlue’s remote monitoring and access to the computers in your practice. Our team is ready to assist with your IT support and below I am going to provide you with all the methods that you and your team may utilize to contact us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: (859) 810-8050
- Website: https://help.pepperpointe.com
- Support Icon: each computer should have a small PepperPointe icon in the bottom right corner of your screen near the clock. Attached to this email are some instructions about that logo and how to request support directly from your computer.
To improve the security and ensure HIPAA compliance of our practices we are recommending implementing the following:
- Replace EdgeRouter which is currently being utilized for Router/Firewall for the practice.
- These routers in place are very cost-effective and provide the minimum features needed for most of our practices. The issue is the limits it has on protecting the network.
- Our solution is a SonicWall TZ370. These firewalls include features such as intrusion prevention, deep packet inspection, and advanced threat protection. None of these features are available on the EdgeRouter. We want to ensure that our networks are protected from the growing cyber threats on healthcare facilities to ensure breaches are less likely to occur.
- Implement Azure Active Directory logins for individual users. This is a requirement for HIPAA compliance. While HIPAA compliance is a multi-faceted process that involves various other requirements beyond the technology infrastructure, it does require the following technical infrastructure, each of which that Azure Active Directory will solve for the practice.
- User Authentication and Access Control
- User and Group Management
- Security Configuration and Policy Enforcement
- Auditing and Monitoring
After reviewing the evaluation for your practice below are some of the items that we would like to discuss further and create a plan of action with you to improve your practice's technology to be more efficient.
- ***Specifics for Practice***
I know this was a lot of information, I am here to help explain more when you have time. We can discuss costs and concerns. Then begin planning a time for us to implement the changes and help the staff to become accustomed to any changes in workflow that these changes would make.
- When this email is sent out the IT team removes the computers from ShelterBlue’s remote monitoring and management program and switches the same machines in PepperPointe IT remote monitoring software to begin our management.
