Technical Services Organization (TSO)
The Technical Services Organization (TSO) was created to provide information technology solutions to ensure sustainability of community clinics and health centers. The mission of the TSO is to provide a foundation to continuously improve the health care provided to patient populations through enhanced deployment and utilization of information technology, providing an efficient foundation to continuously improve health care.
The goals to achieve this mission include improving operational efficiencies, capitalizing on economies of scale with specialized staff and shared services, and assisting in improving care and outcomes for the patients and communities served by member clinics. Collaboration among participating organizations and the integration of technical, operational, implementation, and clinical support provide opportunities through the TSO that would not otherwise be economically feasible for individual health organizations.
- Membership. Membership in the TSO includes the
following benefits: TSO Service Committee and User Group
Participation (up to three participants), as well as access to TSO
discount arrangements, System and Application Hosting Services,
discounted Consulting Services, On-Line Grant Opportunities alerts,
and On-Line Technical Resources and Links.
- System Hosting and Administration. The TSO
Data Center hardware and software hosting service provides member
clinics a professionally managed environment with formal operating
procedures, data security (including data backup and off-site data
storage), an uninterrupted power supply, redundancy, and disaster
recovery plans.
- Shared Systems. A system hosted in a "shared
environment" is defined as a server that is used by more than one
health center. Shared systems provide a cost-efficient option
by reducing or eliminating many of the upfront, recurring, and
replacement costs required to implement and maintain these systems
at the individual organization's level, and redirect the resources
to patient care or other cost-saving investments. The TSO
currently has the following shared systems available: Medical
Manager (WebMD), MegaWest (Companion Technologies), Great Plains
financial applications (Microsoft), and e-mail through Outlook Web
Access (Microsoft)
- Application Hosting. The TSO maintains and
manages the software applications necessary for day-to-day health
center operations.
- Application Support. In addition, the TSO
provides first-line application support for Medical Manager (WebMD)
and MegaWest (Companion Technologies) clients. Clinics using
these practice management software applications will also have
their own combined user group dedicated to the unique needs of
community health centers coordinated by the TSO.
- Project Management, Training and Consulting. The TSO provides consulting services in a variety of areas, including but not limited to, project management, system search and selection, implementation assistance, training and documentation, network consulting and design, emergency technical assistance, application assessment and optimization, custom report writing, and training and help desk process improvement.
TSO services strengthen the safety net and ensure sustainability of health centers by improving operational efficiencies, capitalizing on economies of scale and expertise, and improving care and outcomes for patients and communities served by clinics. As a result of TSO services, community clinics and health centers throughout the state will be able to
- collect higher-quality data through standardized data
collection and reporting procedures;
- increase analysis and interpretation of data because data
collection will be standardized; and
- use data to inform business and clinical decisions through data standardization and reporting.