Ranajee, N. (2012). Best Practices in Healthcare

¶ … Ranajee, N. (2012). Best practices in healthcare disaster recovery planning. Health Management Technology. May 2012.

As electronic medical records become the norm, health care institutions need to maintain backup systems and develop cohesive disaster recovery plans. As Ranajee (2012) states, "downtime is not an option since the data could be critical to patient outcomes," (p. 22). There are several different approaches to emergency preparedness and disaster recovery planning. In "Best practices in healthcare disaster recovery planning," Ranagee (2012) shows why disaster recovery planning is more critical now than ever. The author defines different types of disasters, and also defines disaster recovery planning from a health care perspective in particular. In this succinct article, the author also lists types of disaster recovery centers and various options available for the health care administrator.

Central to the author's argument is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which legislates security requirements for the health care industry. As Ranajee (2012) points out, the "brief" disaster recovery specifications allow for variability in the way disaster recovery planning and emergency preparedness are implemented. Moreover, HIPAA has been variably enforced. In 2009 the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health act "raises the bar" on HIPAA, making disaster recovery planning all but unavoidable on the part of health care institutions. These new regulations are meaningful, even though they can be perceived as inconvenient by doctors, administrators, and other providers.

Disasters are defined as any situation -- including natural as well as cyber disasters -- that threaten valuable health care data. Consequences of data loss can mean loss of life, as patient information stored in electronic medical records hold the key for patient outcomes. Even when it is not a matter of life and death, disasters can wreak significant financial damage on an institution.

The author defines disaster recovery planning in literal terms: planning methods to recover data in case of an emergency. Thus, disaster recovery planning is an integral part of an overall emergency preparedness plan. Disaster recovery planning is distinct from other types of emergency preparedness in that it focuses on information and information technology. Ranajee (2012) refers to the non-IT aspects of emergency preparedness as business continuity planning. Regardless of the terms used, disaster recovery planning is a core component.

One of the strengths of the Ranajee (2012) article is its succinctness, coupled with its pitchy tips on how to develop a thorough emergency preparedness plan including disaster recovery. A risk assessment, coupled with a business impact analysis, helps to highlight areas of priority. Health care workers can think of business impact analyses as triage for electronic medical records.