Disaster Recovery Journal

By Sameer Sule

I am sure that you have heard words like contingency planning and disaster recovery planning. Basically they refer to your preparedness in dealing with unforeseen disasters, whether they are natural disasters or common work place disruptions like power failure, computer/server crashes, internet outage etc. You probably also know all the business reasons, as well as the federal privacy and security requirements that make having a  Contingency Plan a prudent investment. 
As a healthcare provider, your primary goal is providing the highest quality of care for your patients. So, how does a contingency plan benefit your patients? If I was your patient, would knowing the fact that you have a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution in place, change my perception of you as a good healthcare provider? Absolutely! It would definitely improve my perception about you and your practice. 
First, I would feel secure in the knowledge that my medical/dental records are safely backed up and available in the case of an emergency. I would be confident that my data wouldn’t be lost even if there is a disaster at my healthcare providers’ office. Just imagine how upset parents would be when they find out that their child’s healthcare provider just lost all their child’s records in a disaster. Imagine not having a copy of their young child’s records at home and not being able to get access to them. Imagine the hassle they may have to go through to prove that their child received the vaccines, for entrance into a school. It would be devastating and would certainly keep me from wanting to return to that medical practice in the future. This could have social, financial, and legal implications for the provider. There are huge losses at stake when care is not taken to ensure protected health information is stored and secure. 
Providing quality care doesn’t just mean being the best doctor or dentist or therapist, it also means exercising the same care and effort in ensuring that patient data is secure, is regularly backed up and can be easily restored without errors after a disaster. Implementing a contingency plan or a BDR solution is well worth the investment and will go a long way in providing continuity of patient care at all times.  It will give you the peace of mind knowing that you can continue your regular workflow even after an unforeseen disruption. More importantly it will increase your patients confidence in your practice and will reinforce their belief that you care about them. The last thing I would want to deal with when I need medical care is finding out that my health records are not available. Having a contingency plan in place is another step towards providing the highest quality of patient care. It is a win-win scenario for both you and your patients.

By Sameer Sule

I have always emphasized the need for all businesses to make disaster recovery(DR) a priority and to have a written disaster recovery plan. Even though most business owners are aware of the need for disaster recovery planning, limitations of time, money and resources can put the actual DR implementation on the back burner. Small businesses may feel that they do not have the expertise in house to work on DR planning. They may also feel that the cost of Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solutions is prohibitively expensive and is something that only larger businesses can afford. This is not the case anymore.  BDR technology has come a long way in recent years. The advent of cloud computing has not only enabled faster and accurate recovery of applications and data, but has also made it affordable for small business to deploy a BDR solution.   

By Sameer Sule

As I mentioned in my earlier blog (Part1), the Contingency Plan requirement is the seventh standard under the Administrative Safeguards requirement of the HIPPA security rule. The Security rule has Administrative, Physical and Technical safeguards . Each safeguard has its own standards. Each standard in turn has its own implementation specifications that are either required or addressable.  As mentioned in Part 1, addressable does not mean optional.

By: Sameer Sule

Does 45 CFR § 164.308(a)(7)(ii)(A) apply to you? It certainly does if you are a “Covered Entity”(CE) or a “Business Associate”(BA) under HIPAA.  HIPAA audits began in November 2011, and failure to be in compliance with the HIPAA security rule will result in substantial fines to your business. HIPAA defines an organization as a CE and/or BA as follows:

By: Sameer Sule

During my seminars on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, I often ask the audience the following question:

By: Sameer Sule

For those of you who may never have experienced a major disaster and/or interruption in your business and hence might not have thought about Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solutions, consider this…