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Disaster Recovery
January 2007
Disaster recovery technology is similar to home, health and auto insurance-you really need it, it hurts to pay a lot for it, and you hope you never have to use it.
But businesses of every stripe must consider what to do in case of a catastrophic event. Disasters can come in many forms-hurricanes, floods, hacker attacks, fires, power surges and tornadoes-but they share a common trait in that they can quickly destroy an organization by wiping out financial, administrative and, in the case of health care organizations, clinical data that is required for ongoing operations.
The stakes obviously are extremely high for health care organizations. But as Hurricane Katrina revealed, not all care providers have comprehensive plans in place to deal with catastrophic events that threaten to wipe out their critical patient data, says Tom Walsh, an Overland Park, Kan.-based independent health care consultant who focuses on data security and disaster recovery planning.
"Health care is way behind when it comes to disaster recovery," he says. "For example, when I asked an I.T. manager at a hospital what his disaster recovery plan was he got down on his knees and folded his hands together."
Some hospitals and group practices, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, have moved toward creating more comprehensive disaster recovery plans, including deploying redundant backup systems that can be online within minutes after a network or information system goes offline or is destroyed, Walsh says.
These redundant systems basically duplicate information flowing through hospital's critical applications and send them to backup servers. Organizations typically choose only critical applications, such as patient records and payroll, to replicate.
Throughout the course of the day, the data in critical systems is backed up on schedule to make it immediately available if something happens to the main systems. Some facilities have redundant systems housed onsite, but others have implemented systems that periodically transmit information to remote servers housed in a more secure location.
A recent study by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research of health care I.T. spending trends supports those conclusions. Forty-nine percent of hospital I.T. decision makers surveyed say disaster recovery is an I.T. priority, with 21% calling it a top priority. The survey results are based on the responses of 1,214 health care I.T. decision makers, including executives at 33 large North American hospitals and delivery systems.
However, many provider organizations, because of the high costs, are reluctant to spend capital on disaster recovery, Walsh adds. "I.T. systems are expensive in the first place, and it's hard to convince upper management that it's necessary to spend even more on redundant systems," he says. "I.T. used for disaster recovery is pure overhead-it doesn't produce revenue, and providers can't bill a health insurer more because they have a good backup system."
But health care organizations that have dealt with disasters have found that continuing operations during and after a disaster takes more than expensive I.T. In addition to ensuring data is safe and secure, plans must be in place to keep communications up and running and ensure that business functions return to normal as quickly as possible.
Unanticipated challenges
The most important lesson: Expect the unexpected.
Staff members at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans initially weren't too concerned about Hurricane Katrina. But when forecasters determined the storm would be huge, and that it was headed toward New Orleans, staff started to put their disaster plans in action.
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