The Benefits of Managed Print for Healthcare

Healthcare organizations generate enormous volumes of printed material. Most can't account for what it costs. And considering that unmanaged print expenses are often a business's third-highest expense after rent and payroll, it's a big problem. 

And it gets worse. Every dollar spent on troubleshooting printers or wasted print supplies is a dollar not spent on patient care, cybersecurity, or clinical infrastructure. And then there's the compliance risk. Printers contain patient data. Unmanaged device decommissioning has exposed hundreds of thousands of healthcare records.

Managed print can help address all of these issues simultaneously, in a service that helps pay for itself.

Where healthcare print dollars actually go 

A lot of healthcare organizations only track what they spend on paper and ink. They miss everything else.

Here's what a thorough print assessment typically finds.

Supply waste:

• Printers designed for high-quality color images being used exclusively for black-and-white documents (wastes color ink)
• Wasteful default settings that consume more toner than necessary
• Ink-hogging fonts and formatting causing higher supply costs than baseline
• Unnecessary personal printers scattered across departments

Equipment inefficiency:

• Aging devices that aren't energy efficient and fail repeatedly, requiring emergency repairs
• Overcapacity: more printers than the organization actually needs
• Underutilized devices still under expensive maintenance contracts
• Poor device placement forcing staff to walk across departments

Operational burden:

• Multiple departments ordering supplies independently, with no centralized tracking or negotiating power
• Loose printing policies (anyone can print anything, anytime)
• Inconsistent vendor relationships creating contract fragmentation
• A massive burden on IT teams

That last point deserves emphasis. At most organizations, 40%–60% of help desk calls are printer-related. In healthcare, that's particularly damaging because IT staff are already stretched thin managing clinical systems, cybersecurity, and network uptime. Every printer support call is capacity lost.

There are a lot of components that contribute to your overall print cost, and yet these are small potatoes compared to the biggest potential cost of all …

Cybersecurity & HIPAA: The compliance risk nobody tracks

Printers don't look like a security concern. They're in break rooms and supply closets. But they're computers with hard drives, processors, and network access — and they store data.

Ask yourself these five questions. If you can't answer all of them with certainty, your organization may be at risk:

1. Are all default admin passwords changed on every printer in your fleet? Default passwords are among the first thing attackers look for.
2. Are all printers equipped with modern security features? Older devices may lack encryption, secure boot, or authentication controls required for HIPAA compliance.
3. Are sensitive documents ever left in printer trays? This seems basic, but unmanaged print environments often have documents sitting in output bins accessible to anyone.
4. Are printer hard drives securely wiped before disposal? Patient data cached on hard drives must be permanently destroyed. Improper decommissioning is how breaches happen.
5. Are third-party print vendors following your security standards? If you outsource print management to a provider who cuts corners on decommissioning or data handling, you inherit the risk.

If the answer to any of these is "yes" or "I don't know," your organization is exposed.

What happened to HealthReach (and why it matters)

Here's what data was exposed, due to the improper decommissioning of HealthReach's printers: 

• Over 100,000 patient names
• Social Security numbers and birthdates
• Financial and insurance information
• Test results
• Login credentials, PINs, and security codes

A class action lawsuit against HealthReach is still ongoing, and HealthReach is also on the hook for identity theft protection and credit monitoring services for one year for each patient affected … all because some of their printers weren’t decommissioned correctly.

How managed print services deliver value in healthcare

7 Benefits managed print services brings to healthcare printing

Managed print services is increasingly popular with businesses for a number of reasons, but one of the strongest use-cases for it is in the healthcare sector. 

1. Cost transparency & reduction

Most healthcare organizations are spending far more on printing than they realize. A proper assessment calculates your true cost per page — supplies, energy, maintenance, IT support time, everything. Once you see the number, managed print can typically save you 10%–15% through right-sizing your fleet, consolidating suppliers, automating supply ordering, and eliminating emergency purchases at premium prices.

2. Capital efficiency

Printing infrastructure is expensive. Equipment purchases, maintenance contracts, internal staff dedicated to print management, the physical space it occupies — it all adds up. Managed print converts those capital expenses to a predictable monthly operational fee. You free up budget and physical space for what actually matters to your mission.

3. Operational efficiency

Many print providers are able to automate supply ordering for your entire fleet. Our secure online portal also lets your staff track service requests, monitor devices, and get tech planning tools. The hours your team used to spend on print management can go back to patient care and more strategic work.

4. IT capacity recovery

Printer support consumes a shocking amount of help desk time — sometimes 40%–60% of their capacity. When your IT team stops troubleshooting paper jams and driver issues, they can focus on patient-facing systems, cybersecurity, and infrastructure. Marco handles device hardening, firmware management, and security configuration. Your team doesn't.

5. Equipment uptime & care continuity

When a label printer goes down in the pharmacy or lab, care stops. At Marco, we can proactively monitor all devices (including thermal printers) and provide predictive maintenance before problems happen. You get rapid support from print specialists, not from your overextended IT team. Clinical workflows keep running without interruption.

6. HIPAA compliance & risk mitigation

Improper printer decommissioning has cost healthcare organizations millions in settlements. Marco ensures every device is properly secured and disposed of — strong credentials on every printer (not defaults), secure data overwrite before disposal, and documented chain of custody for every unit. Your organization has one fewer breach vector, one fewer audit finding, one fewer lawsuit scenario.

7. Specialized healthcare equipment support

Clinical-grade equipment like thermal and label printers require specialized support. Rather than juggling multiple vendors, Marco manages your entire print environment — from standard multifunction devices to specialized healthcare equipment. You get consistent, reliable output across all locations from a single partner.

What to look for in a healthcare managed print provider

Not all managed print vendors are equipped to serve healthcare safely. 

Non-negotiable credentials:

• SOC 2 Type 2 certification, which means an independent auditor has verified the provider's security practices, controls, and compliance processes. 
• HIPAA compliance experience, with references in healthcare, not just general IT
• Secure decommissioning in writing, including multi-pass overwrite, NVRAM clearing, and certification of destruction, should be explicitly in the contract.

Operational requirements:

• Dedicated healthcare expertise 
• Print security skills
• Clear SLAs around uptime and response time (printer downtime affects clinical staff)
• Proactive monitoring and preventive maintenance (not reactive troubleshooting)

We've achieved a SOC 2 Type 2 certification for both managed IT and managed print services, verifying that we follow documented security practices across both services. We also operate a dedicated print security team that handles healthcare-specific requirements — secure decommissioning, HIPAA compliance verification, and security assessments — as part of our standard service.