Data Recovery for Healthcare and Hospitals
By Matt Brennan
Human error, technology failures, and weather can all throw a kink into an established routine.
This makes data recovery for healthcare a necessity. It’s an industry where lives literally depend on the availability of plentiful information. Data recovery plans help employees to understand what to do when that critical data isn’t immediately accessible, and how to regain access.
Problems can arise without warning, and when they do, it’s good to have a data recovery plan in place.
Eliminate Unnecessary Risk in Your Healthcare Organization
When there is technological downtime in a healthcare facility or a hospital, lives literally hang in the balance. Organizations lose money. Depending on the particular risk facing your organization, HIPAA compliance and patient records may also be placed at risk.
Putting a detailed data recovery plan in place can help you to eliminate much of this unnecessary risk. Organizations may not always want to factor this type of planning into their annual budget. But if you’ve ever faced data loss or a similar technology crisis, you understand the jeopardy this can place your organization in.
When There’s No Data Recovery Plan in Place
Healthcare service can slow down considerably when your front-line medical staff doesn’t have access to patients’ medical histories. It’s hard to maintain a high level of service when staff and patients both become frustrated with the process. Data recovery plans can help you to have a plan in place when the electronics and technology we depend on are rendered inaccessible for unanticipated reasons.
When real-time care information is placed in jeopardy, and employees are working without access to patient records, the quality of care is also at risk. For example, think about a patient who needs a new medication. This would mean that doctors and nurses would not have access to their other medications to monitor interactions, or a proper dosing schedule. This is all crucial information in the context of care.
The Importance of a Data Recovery Plan
A proper data recovery plan is an insurance investment in your organization’s future. Not only will it help protect your patients, it will help you maintain HIPAA compliance, and can help you keep your reputation safe as you deal with sensitive information on a moment-to-moment basis. (Consider what happens if sensitive patient information is left exposed.)
Regular testing of the plan, on at least an annual basis (if not more frequently), can help ensure that your organization can survive a data crisis.
If your organization is missing important data, it’s important to understand that there are recovery options. While recovery software imposes additional risks, an experienced data recovery company may still be able to help you extract missing data off the software in question. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your organization’s situation, contact us today!
