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Simply put, EHR downtime is when the system is entirely or partially unavailable. This can happen due to a severe storm, network issues, human errors, or even malicious cyberattacks.
In a healthcare setting, when the EHRs, which act as the central hub of patient care, fail, they halt the entire hospital’s operations, creating significant risks for both patients and staff.
Financially, the hospitals are reported to lose an average of $ 25,000 per minute due to EHR downtime. Regarding patient care, a study highlights that lab test results are delayed by about 62% during unexpected EHR disruptions.
To add to the complexity, compliance issues make things worse. When sensitive data is compromised, it leads to HIPAA violations and fines reaching up to $50,000 per violation.
Thus, to help you minimize the impact of downtimes and ensure continuous, high-quality patient care, we will explore the best EHR maintenance practices in this article.
Let’s begin.
Ensuring your organization is ready for EHR downtime goes beyond simply having a plan, it’s about establishing a safety net that guarantees continuous patient care and operational stability. No doubt system failures can bring significant challenges, but with proactive measures, you can minimize disruptions and keep everything running smoothly. Here’s how.
Why it’s important: Having a dedicated team ensures every department is ready to handle a downtime situation. It’s like having a special task force that knows exactly how to act when the unexpected happens.
What to do:
How it helps: The University of Vermont Health Network’s experience with a ransomware attack in 2020 highlights the importance of coordination during crises. Their efforts to restore systems while continuing critical medical care demonstrate how a well-prepared team can help mitigate disruption, even in severe scenarios.
Why it’s important: EHR downtime procedures must stay relevant as hospital workflows and technologies evolve. Regular updates prevent confusion and ensure everyone is on the same page regarding EHR downtime prevention.
What to do:
How it helps: The Mayo Clinic has emphasized improving downtime processes to enhance reliability and client outcomes. This approach ensures that organizations can adapt to evolving workflows and compliance standards.
Why it’s important: Not all downtimes are brief; extended disruptions require carefully planned alternatives to ensure the progression of critical services.
What to do:
How it helps: In October 2020, the University of Vermont Health Network experienced a ransomware attack that led to a month-long EHR downtime. They implemented hand-operated tasks and prioritized urgent care services, ensuring clinical care regularity during this extended system outage.
Why it’s important: Dedicated areas equipped for non-digital operations help teams adapt quickly during downtimes.
What to do:
How it helps: Massachusetts General Hospital provides a structured guide to help healthcare facilities prepare effectively, emphasizing readiness for unplanned downtime events. Though the toolkit was published in 2018, it remains highly relevant due to its forward-thinking approach and established reputation.
Why it’s important: Ensuring staff know how to handle unautomated systems during downtime prevents delays and errors.
What to do:
How it helps: The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) highlights that effective protocols, including staff training and preparedness, are crucial for maintaining mechanisms during EHR outages. Their insights stress the need for regular drills and updated instructions to handle disruptions efficiently.
Why it’s important: Access to critical patient and operational data during downtime ensures continuity of care.
What to do:
How it helps: Mayo Clinic has implemented measures to protect information during system downtimes. Their approach includes regular backups and maintaining offline copies of critical data to ensure availability during emergencies.
When EHR systems go offline, maintaining order amidst disruption becomes paramount. With well-practiced protocols, clear communication channels, and adaptable structures, your healthcare teams can swiftly address priorities, reduce delays, and ensure that patient safety remains uncompromised during downtime. Here’s how the same can be achieved.
Why it’s important: Clear communication prevents confusion among staff and ensures smooth task flow.
What to do:
How it helps: During system outages, hospitals have employed backup communication solutions to ensure the continuity of patient services. For instance, some hospitals use tickers on intranet pages, maintain directories of phone numbers for ‘phone tree’ communications, and keep walkie-talkies available for use when digital systems fail.
Why it’s important: During downtime, it’s essential to focus on life-saving and high-priority services.
What to do:
How it helps: During the Scripps Health ransomware attack, electronic health records and imaging systems were encrypted, forcing clinicians to revert to mechanical routines. This situation necessitated the prioritization of emergency and critical care services to manage care delivery effectively.
Why it’s important: Having the right tools and resources available ensures frameworks can be kept up manually.
What to do:
How it helps: Cleveland Clinic’s focus on customized crash carts demonstrates how thoughtfully prepared resources can enhance patient safety and efficiency in emergencies.
Why it’s important: Ensuring patient safety during EHR downtime is the top priority.
What to do:
How it helps: Implementing standardized color-coded syringe labels has been shown to enhance patient safety by reducing medication errors. Also, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has issued a statement on the labeling of pharmaceuticals for use in anesthesiology, emphasizing the importance of standardized color-coded labels to reduce medication errors and enhance patient safety.
Today, post-downtime recovery has become all about bouncing forward. By reflecting on the downtime experience, reconciling data, and identifying improvement areas, healthcare organizations can transform challenges into actionable insights. Here’s how.
Why it’s important: Ensuring all manually documented data is correctly entered into the EHR system is critical for accuracy.
What to do:
How it helps: Massachusetts General Hospital emphasizes the importance of data reconciliation post-downtime to maintain patient safety and care consistency.
Why it’s important: Identifying what worked and what didn’t helps improve future downtime responses.
What to do:
How it helps: Boston Children’s Hospital documented lessons from previous downtime scenarios, demonstrating how continuous evaluation helps refine protocols and address key areas for improvement, such as communication
Why it’s important: Ongoing training ensures staff are prepared for future downtimes.
What to do:
How it helps: Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center implemented an EHR downtime readiness and recovery plan, resulting in improved staff preparedness for both scheduled and unscheduled downtimes.
Why it’s important: Preventing future downtimes requires robust IT infrastructure and cybersecurity protocols.
What to do:
How it helps: Sutter Health System developed comprehensive downtime procedures to ensure business continuity and rapid recovery in the event of IT disruptions.
While preparation and planning are critical to mitigating the effects of downtime, the best solution is often to avoid downtime altogether.
That’s where we, OmniMD, stand out. Our EHR software boasts an impressive uptime of 99.9%, ensuring your systems remain operational when you need them the most.
With us, you can bypass many of the challenges discussed in this article. Whether it’s a network failure, hardware glitch, or unexpected cyber threat, our AI-powered infrastructure and proactive support team work tirelessly to minimize interruptions.
Click here to talk to our experts now.
EHR downtime is a challenge that tests the resilience of healthcare systems. With downtime costing hospitals thousands of dollars per minute and posing significant risks to patient safety, proactive planning, regular maintenance, and strategic EHR support strategies are indispensable.
By partnering with reliable EHR vendors, establishing robust EHR maintenance best practices, and investing in EHR backup and recovery protocols, healthcare organizations can ensure system uptime for healthcare remains a priority.
Remember, the goal isn’t just to recover from downtime but to create a system so reliable and resilient that disruptions are minimized, and care delivery never falters.
Discover proven strategies to minimize downtime and ensure seamless EHR performance for your practice.
