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Tuesday October 22, 2024

3 Ways an EHR Enhances Hospital Disaster Preparedness

When disaster strikes, daily routines are often set aside as we prioritize securing a safe place for our families, repairing homes or businesses, and caring for loved ones. Communities unite, courage and resilience shine through, and stories of hope emerge.

For healthcare professionals, however, the situation can be very different. Even though their homes, families, and friends may be affected, they must put their personal concerns aside to provide care for the injured and ensure the healthcare infrastructure remains operational—often driving through power outages or navigating floodwaters.

The last thing hospital staff need in these situations is to worry about electronic health record (EHR) disaster recovery. This post outlines three ways cloud-based EHR hosting ensures uninterrupted access to critical tools during a natural disaster.

Three Ways an EHR Supports Hospital Disaster Planning

EHR systems must be flexible enough to provide specialized resources while meeting broad demands. The following features help EHRs support hospital emergency operations during crises:

1. A Robust Data Backup Plan

Opting for a hosted EHR solution is a smart move for many healthcare facilities as part of a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. These systems typically perform regular backups, reducing data loss and speeding up recovery times.

Hospitals in disaster-prone areas may benefit from an EHR host with multiple data centers or points of connection, enabling them to switch to an unaffected data center in case of severe local hardware failure, minimizing downtime.

2. Technical Management Availability

During a disaster, technical managers work closely with hospitals, ensuring that all managed IT systems continue to meet their operational needs. These experts provide top-tier support, addressing any issues and keeping hospitals up to date with necessary system updates and configurations.

3. Reliable Customer Support

EHR support teams act as an extension of a hospital’s internal IT department. In addition to resolving technical issues, they help healthcare facilities anticipate outages and other service disruptions.

For example, MEDHOST’s customer support teams actively monitor severe weather events across the country. When a hospital is in a high-risk area, they can assist in activating parts of the EHR disaster plan and coordinate with technical management to ensure preparedness.

MEDHOST Direct: Secure and Reliable

MEDHOST Direct safeguards your critical data with minimal downtime. Our HIPAA-compliant backups, featuring daily flash copies and secondary site data replication services, provide healthcare facilities with dependable data security in the face of natural disasters.

With decades of experience in patient safety during emergencies, MEDHOST is ready to support your disaster preparedness. Contact us at 1.800.383.6278 or email inquiries@medhost.com to learn more about how we can support your contingency planning.

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