As part of its contingency plan for IT emergencies, Boston Children's Hospital has developed what it calls a "downtime cart," according to an article published in Bloomberg BNA.
The cart, the article notes, contains all the paper forms and instructions doctors and nurses need to do their jobs should computer systems fail, whether for a power outage or a cybersecurity incident. The number of employees who don’t know how to fulfill their functions without electronic systems was an eye-opener for MedStar Health, which took all systems down for about five days earlier this year due to a ransomware attack.
A ransomware attack at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center also left staffers working with paper and faxes for more than a week.
The attacks highlight the importance of providers including low-tech solutions as part of their emergency plans.
“Hospitals are starting to recognize that this is something they need to plan for,” Boston Children's CIO Dan Nigrin tells Bloomberg BNA.
Nearly 60 percent of hospitals reported a disruption in their record systems between 2014 and 2015, according to a recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General; 20 percent of those outages lasted more than 8 hours, OIG found.
Half of the hospitals in the IG survey had backup systems in place in case of an EHR system disruption.
While MedStar had practiced individual workarounds in case specific systems failed, it wasn’t prepared to lose everything at once, Craig DeAtley, the organization's director of emergency management said in a recent interview.
The attack brought home the need for a broader cybersecurity plan and training for staff on how to work on paper, if need be.
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