Your healthcare organization faces an escalating challenge – relying on legacy IT systems that were not designed for modern digital ecosystems and could put your data at risk. While these solutions once served their purpose well, they have become operational anchors that drain your resources, create security vulnerabilities in your network, and prevent you from getting the most out of the rest of your technology stack.
The scale of this problem extends across the industry, with many hospitals throughout the U.S. still operating at least one outdated application in their ecosystem that lacks modern APIs or cloud capabilities. According to a 2023 Gartner report, these aging systems consume up to 75% of IT budgets just for maintenance – draining time and resources that would be better served for more important, and potentially life-or-death impacting, activities.
The consequences extend beyond mere inconvenience, with IBM reporting that data breaches cost on average $10.92 million per incident in healthcare, and legacy systems with outdated security protocols are primary entry points for cybercriminals. For an industry where most organizations already operate on thin margins, this combination of high maintenance costs and security exposure creates an unsustainable situation.
The Hidden Costs of Legacy IT Systems
When IT infrastructure ages past its support lifecycle, the consequences multiply rapidly. Legacy technology adds mounting costs to your IT budget beyond the immediate line items:
IT Maintenance Costs
Healthcare facilities spend millions every year just to maintain legacy applications according to some reports. IT maintenance for outdated software is a compounding cost over time, especially when vendors inevitably stop supporting your systems as they reach End of Life (EOL). On top of this, your IT staff will have to devote a significant amount of time to managing these solutions, taking focus away from other needs in your network ecosystem.
Security Vulnerabilities
Cybersecurity continuously evolves as emerging technology presents both new opportunities and vulnerabilities. Legacy IT systems in their final support period are especially vulnerable without outside support, as they will not receive security patches to protect against emerging threats. The average healthcare software ecosystem contains many different types of applications and assets, electronic health records (HER) systems built in the early 2000’s to radiology equipment still running Windows 7. A gap in any one of these can expose the others; gaps in multiple solutions creates a plethora of potential backdoors for hackers to continuously exploit until they can compromise your entire network.
Operational Disruptions
Just as with any tool, even software has a habit of breaking once it reaches a certain age and state of disrepair. However, technology in healthcare not performing properly can escalate into a literal life-or-death situation, making it much more disruptive when legacy IT systems do not work as intended.
Staffing Constraints
The medical industry already suffers from a talent shortage, which is amplified when it comes to IT staff. Many in-house departments are overwhelmed with the existing amount of work they have in a sector where many facilities are under constant threat from cyber attacks and perpetually underbudget. Supporting outdated systems only exacerbates this dilemma, stretching your IT team’s focus away from other needs.
Legacy Systems Create Compliance Challenges
Cybersecurity regulations have evolved considerably in recent years, and many requirements have fundamentally transformed since most of your legacy systems were created. This means that your outdated applications and devices put you at major risk for nonconformance and the penalties that follow.
HIPAA Security Rule updates proposed for 2025 would impose even stricter stipulations, specifically targeting known vulnerabilities in aging infrastructure. Some of the new obligations could include:
- Comprehensive technology asset inventories and network mapping
- Regular risk assessments and vulnerability management
- Documented incident response procedures
- Multi-factor authentication and access controls
- Encryption for data at rest and in transit
Each requirement addresses real weaknesses that attackers currently exploit. Yet implementing these controls on platforms that lack native support for modern authentication protocols or proper network isolation becomes prohibitively expensive or technically impossible.
Legacy IT systems are also often responsible for initial infiltration in the case of many data breaches in healthcare as well as in other industries. Oracle Health experienced such an incident in January 2025 when outdated servers containing access to customer data were hacked and Oracle’s affected clients were extorted by the attackers as a result. This and other episodes involving Oracle prompted new guidance by regulators specifically using these incidents as example, as well as multiple lawsuits.
How MSPs Help You Optimize Your IT Investments
The prospect of replacing core systems understandably creates anxiety. How do you maintain continuity of care during a transition? Who handles the technical complexity? What happens if something goes wrong during implementation?
Managed service providers offer a practical path through migration by ensuring that your data and workflows are preserved while you move away from your legacy IT systems methodically. Rather than forcing wholesale technology replacement that disrupts operations, an experienced MSP partner will help you plan extensively for what you need and stay with you every step of the way as you switch to new solutions.
Here are some of the top benefits of working with a managed IT service provider when migrating away from your legacy infrastructure:
Structured Migration
Rather than attempting disruptive wholesale replacements, experienced MSPs develop roadmaps that modernize infrastructure incrementally. This approach minimizes operational disruption while delivering measurable improvements at each stage. Critical systems receive priority attention, and migrations occur during planned maintenance windows to protect clinical operations.
A phased strategy also addresses the complexity of healthcare data migration. Patient histories, imaging records, billing information, and clinical documentation must transfer without corruption or loss. An experienced MSP will ensure that your data integrity is preserved throughout the transition and validate transferred files at each stage.
Technology Stack Optimization
MSPs evaluate your entire portfolio of applications, systems, and infrastructure to identify redundancies, integration opportunities, and modernization priorities. Vendor management services streamline license renewals, price negotiations, and support escalations across multiple technology partners. Single-point accountability for your technology stack reduces coordination overhead and improves problem resolution efficiency.
24/7 Monitoring and Support
Managed service providers deliver continuous monitoring through dedicated network operations centers (NOCs) and security operations centers (SOCs). This round-the-clock coverage means potential threats receive immediate attention regardless of when they emerge, and technical issues get resolved before they impact patient care.
Compliance Automation and Audit Readiness
Healthcare regulations evolve continuously, and keeping pace with changing requirements strains internal resources. MSPs help maintain compliance through systematic approaches to documentation, assessment, and remediation. This visibility proves essential during audits and when responding to regulatory inquiries.
Layered Security Frameworks
Security in healthcare demands multiple protective layers working together. No single solution prevents all attacks, so managed service providers implement defense-in-depth strategies that create overlapping security controls.
Managed service providers implement multiple layers of protection, from endpoint security and network segmentation to documentation and employee training. Targeted solutions for healthcare organizations will include:
- Complete network mapping and asset inventory management
- Multi-layered security protocols with persistent monitoring
- Regular security assessments and documentation for audit readiness
Business Technology Reviews
Regular strategic reviews examine how technology investments align with your organization’s clinical and business objectives. These assessments identify opportunities to improve workflow efficiency, enhance patient experience, or reduce operational costs through better use of existing resources or targeted new capabilities.
Flexible IT Outsourcing
Co-managed IT services supplement your current resources without replacing internal staff. This approach proves particularly valuable when in-house teams face overwhelming workloads or lack specialized expertise in specific areas. Your team maintains control over strategic decisions and day-to-day operations while the MSP provides additional capacity for projects, after-hours coverage, or specialized skills.
Partner with SWK Technologies to Streamline Your IT
Whether your organization needs 24/7 network monitoring, strategic infrastructure planning, or comprehensive security services, SWK’s award-winning team develops solutions tailored to your specific environment. Our SOC 2 certified services maintain the security standards healthcare data protection demands, while our regional teams across the U.S. deliver responsive support when and where you need it.
Contact SWK here to discover how our healthcare IT solutions and managed services can give you peace of mind over your technology, letting you focus on what matters most.