For medical practices protecting your data is paramount.
Additionally, compliance to regulations such as HIPAA makes data protection a primary concern for healthcare organizations. Constructing and implementing a Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) plan can help protect and prevent data loss. BDRs cohesively combine data backup strategies and disaster solutions to ensure business continuity.
Anticipate possible disasters.
From cyberattacks to hurricanes, a compromise to your medical practice’s data may come physically or technologically, and most likely with little to no warning. If your office must physically shut down, do you have a temporary worksite where you can easily access your data? Do you have set procedures in case cybercriminals hack your data and hold it for ransom?
Become data-focused.
Becoming data-focused means you understand the workings of your network infrastructure. Keep inventory of systems, documents, and data. Familiarize yourself with information such as Recovery Time Objective (RTO), which is the time your medical practice can afford to lose after a system failure, or Recovery Point Objective (RPO), which is how far back in time your data regularly gets backed up.
Test your BDR regularly.
Conducting routine checks of the ability to restore data from your medical practice’s BDR is the only way to be confident it will work properly when an emergency arises. Confirm that all systems are up-to-date and are still relevant to the BDR. Also, make sure that your employees and practitioners know and follow the established protocols.
The way you handle your patient information and data can make or break your medical practice. BDR solutions can help your medical practice achieve compliance and protect sensitive medical data from unexpected disasters.
