Do you have a plan for disaster recovery and business continuity? What is in your disaster recovery plan? Below is a list of items you may want to include in your plan. The idea is to have all the necessary information in one place, so that if a disaster does happen, you don’t have to search for information. You will have everything planned out. Who is calling who? Where do we meet? How do we continue to see patients, etc. Use these few tips as a basis for starting your plan, and getting all your necessary documentation in order.
- Document key personnel contact info. Cell phone numbers, home numbers, personal email, etc.
- List your senior management and how to reach them in an emergency
- Create 3 teams. An emergency response team, a disaster recovery team, and a business response team.
- Create a calling tree. For example, Dr. Jones will call Sylvia, Sylvia will call Jimmy, Jimmy will call xyz.
- Do you have an emergency contact listed for all your employees? Is it in one place? You may want to create a copy you can keep with your disaster recovery plan.
- List your IT information. Who is the lead? What is their emergency number? Do you have their address in case you have to know on their door?
- Have your data backup plan handy so that you know where your last good backup is, and how you are going to restore from it. Keep your written policy in with your disaster recovery documentation.
- Who owns your building? What is the landlord’s contact info? Who else can you reach from the building if the landlord is not available?
- If there is an evacuation, where will the assembly points be? Parking lot? Across the street?
- If patients need to be notified, who contacts them? How are they contacted?
- If the media needs to be involved, who will be the spokesperson?
- Do you keep a secure copy of financial documents? If so, where are they? You may want to document where to find them.
- What is your plan for returning to normal business?
- Where is your insurance information? Do you have your broker listed?
- Do you have your Attorney’s information handy in case you need it?
It is a great idea to have ALL of this information documented in one place, and copies given to senior management to keep in 2-3 places each. If a disaster does strike, you don’t want to be fumbling around for information. You want your disaster plan to be like a well-oiled machine. Having a disaster is bad enough. Not preparing for it is even worse.
If you would like Tier3MD to help with your disaster recovery plan, contact us today.
Tier3MD is medical IT support group headquartered in Atlanta.
