The all-in-one platform simplified operations and improved collaboration compared to Office 365 for Orthopedic Clinic IT. Company Name: Orthopedic Health of Kansas City Location: Kansas City, MO Practice Size: 14 orthopedic surgeons and 20+ PAs Practice Type: Multi-Speciality Orthopaedic What We Solved Reduced licensing fees, simplified technology systems, improved collaboration, and strengthened infrastructure reliability by transitioning OHKC from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace. Key Results When a series of ongoing issues culminated in a preventable outage that left one of Orthopedic Health of Kansas City’s (OHKC) offices offline for a day, coupled with unresponsive support, Dr. Christopher Wise, OHKC orthopedic trauma surgeon, decided it was time to find a new technology partner. As a trauma surgeon of OHKC, Dr. Wise—who leads the practice’s technology initiatives—chose HealthSpaces for its innovative model for both engineering and support. He preferred the Slack-based support to the standard, slow ticketing-based system, with its inherent disadvantages of handoffs and escalations. The fact that HealthSpaces provides a dedicated on-site resource also stood out. “With HealthSpaces there’s no ticketing system. Everyone else we looked at, they don’t have that model. There’s usually a centralized help desk. You have to call or go online and file a ticket.” – Dr. Christopher Wise, Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon, OHKC The hands-on, real-time support model that drew Dr. Wise to HealthSpaces soon proved invaluable. After partnering with HealthSpaces, OHKC had to decide how to meet the rising cost and complexity of their compliance, security, and storage requirements. OHKC Confronts a Costly Licensing Upgrade At the time HealthSpaces came on board, OHKC was using Microsoft 365. But the current setup couldn’t support the practice’s evolving needs. They needed to upgrade their license to meet HIPAA requirements, enable full auditing, and ensure data loss prevention. Additionally, to meet new cybersecurity insurance requirements with 365, they’d need a third-party Identity Provider (IdP). Bottom line: remaining with Microsoft would have meant spending tens of thousands more each year. That’s when HealthSpaces brought up the idea of switching to Google Workspace. How Shifting to Google Workspace Saved Tens of Thousands Rifaat Kouaider (Ro), a Partner at HealthSpaces, and OHKC’s Product Owner, explained that Google could meet OHKC’s needs at lower cost and complexity. Kouaider showed Dr. Wise how Google provides the encryption, backup capabilities, and IdP service OHKC needed all in one bundle. “Ro got me all the costs and I know all the finances for what we buy. So it’s pretty easy to put together a little pro forma and say, ‘All right, this is how much we’re going to have to spend on Microsoft to do this. And this is how much we’re going to spend on Google Workspace. What do we want to do?’” Dr. Wise said. Dr. Wise presented the numbers to his board, and the decision was made. He explained, “If it wasn’t a big cost savings, people probably would not want to do it. But, you know, when it becomes a five figure number a year—times a couple—that gets noticed.” What Google Workspace Delivered While cost savings and compliance drove the switch to Google, additional benefits reinforced the value of the move. Improved Collaboration Staff at OHKC now use Google Chat to communicate in real-time and asynchronously, rather than collaborating through scattered email threads. And since they now use Google’s shared file system, it’s much easier to avoid the confusion of having multiple versions of the same document. This approach also allows for greater security, via centralized control and backup. In short, OHKC’s staff works faster because they face fewer version control issues and less email clutter. Efficient Storage After the transition to Google, OHKC began phasing out aging on-prem hardware. HealthSpaces helped OHKC migrate legacy EMR and network drive data into a 900-terabyte Google Drive environment, which reduced reliance on old infrastructure. The new, cloud-based storage system doesn’t just provide vastly more storage space, but also allows for future growth. Unlike the old infrastructure, the storage on Google Drive can expand as OHKC grows. “[With Google] we got 900 terabytes of shared data. So we can offload some of our on-site previous shared network drives that are on old hardware that needs to be retired anyway.” – Dr. Christopher Wise, Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon, OHKC Human Resource (HR) Process Enhancements Even HR processes saw improvement. With support from HealthSpaces, the OHKC team rolled out a new Google Sites intranet to house onboarding materials, HR policies, and single sign-on access—all managed by OHKC’s newly hired HR lead. This saves additional costs because it does not need costly IT resources to maintain. A New Normal: Stability, Strategy, and Confidence With the switch to Google Workspace, OHKC simplified operations across the board. A single solution now covers compliance, auditing, and identity management. That foundation has translated into improvements in the stability and reliability of OHKC’s technological infrastructure. Staff and leadership alike have renewed confidence in their systems and in their technological partnership. “HealthSpaces is very approachable because there’s not just one person. It’s a whole team of people,” said Dr. Wise. “They’re very responsive to either preventative things or crises as they’re happening.” With a major transformation behind them, OHKC and HealthSpaces have turned their attention to the future. Together with HealthSpaces, OHKC is developing an ongoing technology roadmap to guide decisions around modernization, budgeting, and strategic priorities. Instead of reacting to problems as they arise, OHKC is now proactively shaping its technology environment.