How to Create a Downtime Readiness and Recovery Plan

As healthcare facilities become more and more dependent on information technology to keep their processes running efficiently, the frequency of disruptions and delays due to technology has increased. Healthcare facilities that depend on technology need to have a downtime readiness and recovery plan in place to ensure smooth clinical workflow and quality patient care even in the face of downtime.

What is EHR downtime?

EHR downtime is when your electronic health records system is not available, mostly due to reasons like updates, internet outages, or server issues. A downtime readiness and recovery plan is a course of action that is put into place should downtime occur. Downtime is the time during which a machine or system is not functioning properly and is unavailable to users. It can be planned or unplanned and happen because of software or hardware upgrades, bad weather, faulty machines, etc.

Planned or unplanned, downtime can cause severe consequences to hospital operations, finance, patient safety, and staff. A downtime readiness and recovery plan helps to mitigate these consequences and ensure smooth operations.

Related: Avoiding Downtime: Software Solutions to Server Issues

What is an EHR downtime plan?

Essentially, this plan is a set of instructions that details how staff and providers should operate until systems are up and running again. Whether facing unplanned or planned downtime, staff and providers should know:

• How EHR downtime and alternate processes are communicated
• How physicians and staff document patient care
• How charges are collected
• How systems are brought back up
• How downtime documentation is transferred back to the electronic health record (EHR) once systems are live again

How to prepare for planned downtime

For planned downtime, it’s helpful to communicate to all staff and providers when and how long the downtime will be in advance, as well as how to operate in the interim. All communication should be tailored to the staff to help them continue to work efficiently. The EHR downtime policy and procedures should detail elements including:

• How to notify staff and physicians of the downtime
• Which necessary reports, forms, or documents to print before the downtime begins
• Have a process in place for phones and other business applications
• Have a designated person to enter information back into the EHR once downtime is over

How to prepare for unplanned downtime

For unplanned downtime, it’s wise to have a contingency plan in place as soon as possible. During an unexpected EHR downtime, staff will need to pivot to a paper process in order to continue working. It’s recommended that health care facilities take steps like:

• Print out extra forms, schedules, charge slips, etc.
• Have a communication plan in place to inform staff of the downtime when it happens and when it’s over
• Have a system to assign temporary medical record or ID numbers to patients
• Have a plan to determine in which order to see patients and clinical documentation for each patient
• Have a manual process for patient phone calls and other business applications
• Have a designated person to enter all information into the EHR once downtime is over

It’s a good idea to not only have an EHR downtime plan in place, but also to have downtime drills during which staff can get comfortable with the processes before real downtime occurs.

Related: How to Mitigate Human Error in Healthcare Systems

While downtime is never convenient, there are ways to mitigate the inconvenience. In addition to having a robust readiness and recovery plan, facilities can implement cloud-based document management software with downtime solutions. DigiDoc keeps all patient forms and data accessible even in the event of an EMR/EHR or lab application outage. DigiDoc also provides access to your important forms in case our service becomes unreachable. Have more questions about downtime and how to prepare your staff and your systems for it? Contact DigiDoc for a free, live demonstration today.