Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics began the search for their next IT company, looking both at IT providers in Hampton Roads, and those farther away.
HRCT delivers high-touch support and flexible HIPAA compliance services backed by experience and expertise to keep Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ systems running.
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Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics has been providing expert orthodontic services to Hampton Roads families for more than 20 years. Their team of more than 40 staff members works out of three office locations in Coastal Virginia, led by board-certified orthodontists Dr. Bill Hatcher and Dr. Scott Frey.
Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics provides the full range of conventional orthodontic care services, is a top 1% worldwide Invisalign provider, braces, all age ranges, and offers whitening as well. They work with patients as young as six-years-old and as old as those in their sixties and seventies.
“We had been with the same IT company for almost 20 years,” says Magan Katz, Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics.
Over time, businesses tend to change. For companies that work together, such as Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics and their previous IT provider, change can eventually present an issue when it affects service quality.
In this case, the IT company that Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics had been with for nearly two decades no longer met their needs. The practice’s staff was worried that they were getting passed over for the IT company’s newer clients.
This was a key concern for Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics because, by their own admission, they required a lot of attention from their IT support provider. Their offices are heavily reliant on their IT, and so, they’re constantly in touch with their IT company for support, consultation, and more.
“We needed a company that would be flexible with us and give us the attention we needed, without being overbearing and telling us how it had to be done,” says Magan. Eventually, the Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics staff recognized that they would need to find a new IT company; one that would deliver the high-touch service their organization’s needed to operate effectively.
Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics began the search for their next IT company, looking both at IT providers in Hampton Roads, and those farther away. Magan initially requested service quotes from four different companies, some of which were local, and some of which weren’t. She soon realized that remote support providers wouldn’t meet their needs.
Aware of the level of direct support that Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ office often required, Magan eliminated remote providers and focused on those in Hampton Roads, which included Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics.
“I knew that having a company that wasn’t locally based wouldn’t be good for us, I didn’t want to rely on that.”
How long will it take for a distant IT company to show up? Will Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics be high on their priority list? Probably not.
This is unacceptable—every minute of downtime costs Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics in productivity. Their IT service company should always treat their problems with a sense of urgency.
By working with a local IT company in Hampton Roads, Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics can have their issues resolved promptly, which prevents IT interruptions and downtime.
Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ business is unique, and they shouldn’t settle for a one-size-fits-all approach. Remote IT support providers implement generalized solutions because it’s easy.
With a local IT company in Hampton Roads that can meet with Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics to learn about their operations and goals, they’ll receive the personalized attention they deserve.
Just like response times, it’s important to know that resolution times for logged support tickets will be prompt. Both response and resolution times are shorter when Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics has a local IT company in Hampton Roads that’s invested in their success.
In light of HRCT’s ability to provide local support, the fact that they supported other organizations of Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ size, and their stellar record of reviews from other clients, Magan began meeting with us to talk about service capabilities.
In the end, we met with Magan and the Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics staff three times before they decided to hire us. And when they did, it was clear we had to make the change quickly. This accelerated timetable was compounded by the fact that this was all taking place in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. Even under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to quickly take over Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ IT management needs.
“They did a good job transitioning us over without any hiccoughs. They’re really good at communicating.”
Once we had fully taken over the management of Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ three offices’ IT systems, the HRCT team quickly got to work providing the high-touch and responsive IT services that Magan and the staff expected.
In particular, Magan notes our robust ticketing system. No matter what support request has been logged by a Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics staff member, our system makes it easy to check its status, get updates, and ensure a quick turnaround. “You know exactly where everything is in the support process,” says Magan.
Furthermore, Magan reports that HRCT provides the comprehensive and highly available support she and the Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics team was looking for. She recognizes that although Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics is a needy client, HRCT continues to meet and exceed their needs. “They’re really nice,” says Magan. “They’ve been really responsive.”
Working in the healthcare industry means more than treating patients. In addition to patient care, a practice’s staff also has to maintain compliance with complicated, regularly updated HIPAA regulations.
After all, healthcare organizations like Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics deal in the most valuable data on the market: healthcare information. Single healthcare records can be sold for as much as $250–$300 apiece on the dark web.
That’s why cybercrime is so prevalent in the healthcare sector. FireEye researchers have noticed an increase in targeted attacks against healthcare organizations that house large amounts of valuable patient data. This is opposed to the conventional “wide-net” approach to cybercrime attacks, which are more opportunistic, targeting as many organizations as possible and hoping for the best.
Obviously, HIPAA compliance is important to the Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics team. Unfortunately, in Magan’s experience working in the orthodontics industry, she’s often found that HIPAA compliance services are often too expensive for practices to afford.
This is a big issue for practices like Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics. While they need their IT company to be aligned with their HIPAA compliance initiatives, investing in these additional services can often overwhelm their IT budget. That’s not the case with HRCT, however. “They were really flexible,” says Magan. “They worked with me to make sure we were getting what we needed without breaking the bank.”
HIPAA compliance has a long list of requirements, and overlooking even a single one can mean serious consequences for a practice like Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics. HRCT knows how complicated HIPAA compliance is, and how organizations like Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics would rather be focusing on caring for their patients. That’s why HRCT has developed a comprehensive compliance IT service to help clients like this stay in line with HIPAA.
Furthermore, we’re willing to work with Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics and key contacts like Magan in order to determine the right level of service, which will both support their compliance efforts and ensure their IT expenses don’t exceed their budget.
A key example of HRCT’s committed IT support is when Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ Internet connection recently went down near the Easter holiday. This is a big problem for Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics, as they are an entirely cloud-based organization.
That means that any issues with their Internet connectivity directly affect their ability to access patient data, apps, and other IT resources. None of their data or IT assets are stored locally, which makes their Internet connection a fundamental lifeline in their operations.
“It’s a big problem for an office like ours that runs everything off the internet,” says Magan.
In order to assess and resolve the issue, HRCT technicians came onsite to provide direct support. Our technician stayed onsite until an update was provided by Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics’ Internet Service Provider (ISP), which claimed the situation was resolved.
When it turned out that the ISP had not resolved the issue, HRCT sent out another technician to come on site the day before Good Friday. Our technician worked directly with staff members from Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics and the ISP to ensure the issue was resolved properly before the long weekend.
“We were able to get everything resolved the next day, before we had patients showing up again,” says Magan.
Working with HRCT, the Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics staff is confident they made the right choice. They now have an IT partner that directly manages everything IT-related in their business, from specialized software to third-party tech vendors to ongoing projects.
It’s this quality of support that allows the Hatcher & Frey Orthodontics staff to focus on delivering the best possible experience for their patients. They don’t have to worry about their IT; they can trust that HRCT is taking care of it.
It's no accident that we've been in business for over 35 years. HRCT has been voted #1 in IT and Telephone Services in Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and Virginia Beach - all because our team shows up for our clients every day. Reach out today to talk to one of our IT experts and learn how we can help!