Security First: Meritage Taps Euvic to Fortify its IT Landscape and Harness the Cloud

Overview_

Meritage Medical Network, a healthcare provider serving providers and patients across northern California, addressed escalating security and compliance requirements by partnering with Euvic for a comprehensive technology makeover. Cloud migration, modern security, and improved user experience bolstered Meritage’s security and resilience while enabling business expansion.

Background_

Meritage’s group of independent doctors came together to create exceptional quality healthcare in the areas of utilization, claims, customer service, provider relations, care management services, human resources, accounting, and IT.

Challenge_

Overcoming Legacy Hurdles

Meritage was built from the ground-up and was operating with a technology framework designed with “just in time thinking.” The business was scaling, security requirements were intensifying, and compliance regulations were building.

For Meritage to deliver on its promise, it needed technology that could scale and respond to market and regulatory requirements.

The biggest challenges faced by the legacy Meritage technology platforms were:

• On Premises Servers: The challenges of on-premises servers hit home in 2020 when two critical external factors struck the business. The first was the pandemic and remote-first work, which meant that IT teams were not on site to manage servers. The second was the tragic and epic Glass Fire, which burned through the Napa community for 23 days. Luckily the fire did not hit the Meritage offices, but the risk was palpable and very real.
• Technical Debt: As the organization expanded, it was critical to modernize outdated applications and operate on stable and reliable systems. The legacy systems had been built using a patchwork of development approaches over an extended period of time and were not fully documented or supported. There was on overdependence on individuals who were the only ones who knew the systems. The systems, particularly the claims portal, had grown delicate and difficult to extend or improve without fear of breaking the system itself.
• Healthcare and Security Compliance: As a top class medical network, Meritage is committed to healthcare and security compliance. Unfortunately its older systems had potential security vulnerabilities which were difficult to fix given the age of the systems and the difficulties improving them.
• Poor User Experience: The legacy claims portal had old clunky user interfaces, complex user flows, and was challenging and unpleasant to use. Meritage wanted a modern, easy-to-use interface for its users.

Solution_ 

Meritage’s Tech Makeover

With Euvic’s partnership, Meritage transformed its business thanks to Euvic’s team of 6000+ high-caliber skill sets, all at a Polish exchange rate. Projects included a simple calendaring application, the construction of Meritage’s first Intranet, as well as some larger projects which had Meritage migrate its mission-critical accounting system to the Cloud and perform a ‘Lift and Shift’ of its Claims management portal called MIPAnet.

Euvic conducted onboarding workshops to document key project requirements and unearth system needs. From there, a team of technology experts was onboarded to address the overall technology framework and to design, build, test, and deploy each solution.

The legacy claims management portal MIPAnet project is worth examining in detail:

• Security: Working closely with Meritage management and staff, Euvic introduced two-step authentication and other modern security architecture in Meritage systems. The claims portal leveraged Microsoft’s B2B enterprise level authentication, including SSO and two-factor authentication. In addition to achieving security and regulatory compliance with the finished products, the Euvic team operated with security and privacy as a driving principle for all workstreams with patient data protected at every step of the process. Development was always done with mock user data and HIPPA norms were observed at all times.
• Cloud-first development: Applications and infrastructure were moved from on-premise servers to Microsoft Azure. Shifting to Azure improved Meritage’s business resilience and security and also opened up a wealth of opportunities to harness cloud-based services and computing, all while fitting the needs of Meritage’s hybrid workforce. Applications were architected with Microsoft .Net Core technology, which enables Meritage to scale solutions over time using commonly understood technologies and frameworks. By shifting to the cloud, this portal also is able to interact with other Meritage platforms via Microsoft Azure integrations.
• Improved User Experience: This digital transformation presented a unique opportunity to overhaul the user experience of key processes and tools such as claims processing, appointment setting, and internal communication. Euvic provided user experience design and interface design to modernize the business, uplift the experience, improve usability, and increase adoption.

The Dream Team_

Trust was the number one criteria for Meritage when selecting its technology partner. After testing firms through a series of small technology projects, Euvic was chosen because of the quality of the services provided, the smooth cooperation with Meritage staff and the value of Euvic’s deliveries.

Notably, the US healthcare system is unique in the world with business logic that is quite specific.  The Euvic team built an insider-level knowledge about US healthcare insurance, billing, and claims practices so Meritage could trust Euvic’s instincts about software and user needs.

Now that Euvic was firmly established as the go-to technology partner, Meritage was ready to escalate the scope of work to tackle the critical tasks on the digital roadmap.

The Euvic team included a project manager, technical lead, front and back-end developers, user experience and user interface designers, and quality assurance leads.

Result_

The Impact of Technological Advancements

The culmination of nearly two decades grappling with suboptimal systems saw the Euvic team execute a seamless migration to a robust technological framework. This transition resulted in zero system outages, heightened user satisfaction, enhancement with new features, and top notch security measures.

• Confidence and Stability: Meritage benefits from improved security, resilience to power outages and natural disasters, and higher adoption and user satisfaction. Now Meritage’s technology infrastructure is extensible, reliable, and can easily be updated with new features. The Meritage leadership team has greater peace of mind knowing that their critical systems are reliable.
• Enhanced User Experience The persistent challenges faced by Meritage users were decisively overcome with the introduction of highly sought-after features within mere months.
• Business Opportunity The modernized and robust technology infrastructure assured a successful integration with new partner organizations, which would have had no chance for completion with the previous systems. Euvic produced proprietary IP, which added value to the company and created opportunities for business expansion, partnership, and acquisitions.