Are Hidden Costs of Your Legacy System Draining Your Resources?

When you talk about the expenses related to maintaining legacy medical records, opinions can vary from person to person. However, when you look closely, you’ll be able to see that these costs often fall into recurring categories: the expenses for maintaining access to the software and the expenses for the hardware that supports the software.

These expenses are straightforward to identify and budget for since you are likely the one responsible for paying them regularly. But what about the costs that cannot be accurately quantified in dollars - the “hidden” costs?

Primarily there are 3 hidden costs associated with these systems - Time, Training, and Risk.

1. Time

One of the most significant hidden costs of maintaining legacy systems is time. Legacy systems are often complex and require a significant amount of effort to maintain. This can result in delays in implementing new features, upgrades, and bug fixes, which can negatively impact your business operations. For instance, a healthcare provider using a legacy system may need to manually enter patient data into the system, resulting in additional time spent on administrative tasks.

2. Training

Another hidden cost of maintaining legacy systems is training. Legacy systems often require specialized knowledge and expertise to operate, maintain, and upgrade. As time goes on, employees leave your organization. But what about the legacy knowledge they take with them?

As these systems become outdated and are replaced, training costs can add up as new staff members need to be trained on how to use them.

For example, a healthcare organization will need to dedicate significant time and resources to train new staff on how to use legacy EHR systems, which can result in additional costs associated with training materials, trainers, and trainee time.

3. Risk

Last but not least, maintaining legacy systems can also be a risk for your business. The longer you maintain a legacy system, the higher your risk that something with the software and/or hardware happens and requires strong intervention by either your IT team or the vendors.

But what happens if your vendor no longer supports your system?

You are responsible for ensuring the full security and HIPAA compliance of your legacy system, even if you are not actively entering data into it. If you no longer receive vendor support for these aspects, your overall risk of non-compliance and potential fines increase significantly.

For example, a healthcare provider using a legacy system may be at a higher risk of a data breach or cyber attack, resulting in additional costs associated with addressing the attack or breach. Or, a healthcare organization using a legacy system that is not compliant with HIPAA may be subject to fines and legal fees, resulting in additional costs associated with compliance.

So how can you mitigate these hidden costs?

Archiving legacy systems is one of the primary solutions that must be considered.

Archiving involves capturing and preserving data and systems in a way that allows them to be accessed in the future. This can be a cost-effective way to preserve your legacy system while also reducing the time, training, and risk associated with maintaining it.

I. To mitigate hidden costs associated with time, archiving can help reduce the duration and resources required for legacy systems, freeing up time for other business priorities.

For instance, an archival system for legacy data is easier to use for accessing past information compared to the original system.

This is because instead of going through multiple steps, such as signing in to a separate system, searching for the relevant patient, navigating to the required information, and then reviewing it, many archival systems integrate directly with your current EMR.

Thus, the archival system does the heavy work of logging in to the old system and searching for the patient for you, thus saving time and effort.

II. In terms of training, archiving the legacy systems can:

• Help reduce the time and cost Help reduce the time and cost associated with training staff on outdated systems. When there is one archival system that can get data from multiple legacy systems, both the time and cost required for training are reduced way more than when trying to maintain and train for different legacy systems.
• Redirect their resources toward core business functions and invest in new technologies that are more efficient and cost-effective.

III. In order to mitigate hidden costs associated with risks, archiving legacy systems will help:

• Mitigate the risks associated with using outdated technology, as they are no longer in use and are therefore less likely to be targeted by cybercriminals
• Ensure compliance with industry regulations and standards, reducing the risk of costly fines and legal actions

All in all, archiving your legacy system can provide you with peace of mind knowing that your data is secure and accessible, even as technology continues to evolve. So, while maintaining your legacy system may seem like the best option, the hidden costs that come with it can impact your business. By considering archiving, you can preserve your legacy system while also mitigating these hidden costs and unlocking new opportunities for growth.