Unlike other businesses, downtime can be deadly for hospitals and clinics. Whether downtime is caused by a malware attack, natural disaster or an unexpected power outage, the consequences can be serious. Downtime for a healthcare organization means that doctors and staff cannot access or share critical data stored digitally or use certain medical equipment.
It’s imperative healthcare providers devise and implement disaster recovery and contingency planning to prevent, or at least minimize, downtime, according to CIO. A disaster recovery plan should include things like keeping machines and surgical instruments operating and maintaining the network infrastructure so staff can access and share patient data.
An important element of an effective disaster recovery plan is being prepared for the worst and being flexible. Healthcare organizations have to act fast in the event of an outage or natural disaster. CIO says, “Disaster planning and preparation are most effective when they involve the healthcare provider’s entire staff, rather than just IT and department managers.”
The cloud is becoming a crucial part of many healthcare organizations’ disaster recovery plans. A recent survey of healthcare IT decision-makers showed 84 percent of respondents consider the cloud to be a viable platform for disaster recovery and backup, and 61 percent said their organization currently uses the cloud for disaster recovery. The cloud allows healthcare organizations to securely store patient health and financial data, as well as easily share data.
Patient wellbeing and security is one of the top priorities for all healthcare organizations, and this makes having a disaster recovery plan in place absolutely crucial. If you’re interested in a disaster recovery plan for your healthcare organization, learn about MDL’s managed services offerings.
