You've Heard the Motto...Be Prepared. But, Are You?

The day-to-day tasks of running your medical practice can take up your time and your focus. Even though the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) requires you to have a disaster recovery plan, you may not have taken the time to thoroughly implement it and prepare for the worst.

Perhaps you think it won't happen to you or you've been saying you'll spend some time on it next week. The truth is a disaster can strike at any time, pretty much anywhere. For a paper-based practice, a fire could easily cause the loss of all patient chart data. Practices that utilize an Electronic Health Record (EHR) solution have a great advantage, but this doesn't mean that an automated practice doesn't still need a solid disaster recovery plan.

"We had a customer who was fully automated, but they kept their backup tapes in the office and didn't really have a strong disaster recovery plan," recalls Mike Urrutia, project manager at Sage Software. "They had a huge fire in their business office where all their patient and billing data was housed. Luckily they were able to recover the data with the help of a data recovery specialist, but it took several days. They were completely unprepared for an event like that."

Being unprepared cost that practice hundreds of thousands of dollars a day as they searched for a new location, waited for their data recovery and had a temporary system implemented to get them up and running again. Whether you are a single provider practice or a multi-site enterprise like the one mentioned here, you need a plan that will protect your data and help you reopen your doors as quickly as possible in the event of a disaster such as fire, flood, or a system issue.

Develop a plan
How can you go about preparing a plan and implementing it effectively? First, you need to consider what types of events you are likely to face. Everyone is susceptible to fire but your location may dictate whether flood, earthquake or other events are relevant for your planning. Select a central person to coordinate your disaster recovery plan. That person should be in charge of the following tasks or assigning tasks to others:

  • Prepare a financial plan: Figure out how much money you need to get up and running again and where to put that money for a rainy day.
  • Find an alternate location: Look for a backup office location where you can easily get set up and start seeing patients again.
  • Order and storing backup supplies: Order needed supplies and store them offsite.
  • Develop an emergency evacuation plan: You must have an emergency evacuation plan that you actually practice, revisit regularly and update as needed. Practice it regularly enough that the entire staff is comfortable with it.
  • Update insurance: Make sure your insurance coverage is up to date and don't let it lapse.
  • Assess disaster proofing measures: Look into the viability of fireproof file cabinets and safes as well as other measures to protect your paper records.

Backups for an automated system
If you do have an automated system, there are a few other things you can do to help ensure you'll have your data even if you face a disaster. Be sure you create backup tapes regularly and store your tapes in a safe location offsite. Your practice can determine the right backup schedule for your needs—that may be once every night or it could be every fifteen minutes. Look into server solutions providing maximum uptime, complete redundancy, internal alerts and a remote monitoring solution. If one side of the redundant system goes down, the other side takes over, and you won't even notice the shift. Also, complete an inventory of your hardware and software and consider labeling all your hardware clearly so it can be quickly relocated and setup at a new location.

"You can easily avoid a lot of heartache if you are prepared," says Urrutia, who has seen many practices in various levels of recovery from crisis. "The more prepared and the better your planning, the better chance you have of getting your practice back up and running quickly. It will protect your business revenue as well as helping to ensure you can continue to care for your patients."

Sage Software can help
Intergy by Sage has many features that were specifically designed to help protect data and avoid downtime. In addition, Sage Software has partnered with companies like Stratus to provide industry-leading solutions to further protect your practice from unnecessary downtime and help protect your data in the event of a disaster.

Ready to get started?
If you are ready to take the next step to automation to help more effectively protect your data, Sage Software can help. To set up an on-site demonstration and find about features designed to keep your data secure and prevent downtime, please: