Is your computer network safe?

What happens in the event of an unexpected accident with damage to your physical office space? When hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, many individuals lost their medical records which were stored in paper format. A web site was set up called KatrinaHealth to assist patients, pharmacists and physicians in reassembling their prescription information to provide some continuity to the medical and prescribing histories. However, for many, their medical records were completely destroyed. Physicians using ASP based Electronic Medical Records were saved from this disaster if their record databases were stored in remotely hosted servers. One of the definite benefits of having medical records stored off-site.

Sam Solomon, December 2009 - Parkhurst Exchange: On the morning of August 14, a 20-foot-long piece of concrete fell from the third floor of a suburban Toronto office building where several large group practices are located and smashed into the ground below, luckily not injuring anyone. City inspectors, concerned about other pieces falling as well, immediately evacuated and cordoned off the entire building. You might think this would spell disaster to the building’s two Family Health Teams and to the one preparing to move in in eight days. Without their records and computers and phones, how would they care for their patients? How would they even let patients know the building was closed? How would they refer patients appropriately until the building reopened?....

What are your thoughts about ASP (remotely hosted) vs. Local Installations for EMR systems? Do you prefer one configuration over the other? Add your thoughts by clicking on the 'Comments' link below

Comments

[Alan Brookstone for Martin Ross]

The following comment has been submitted by Martin Ross and is published on his behalf:

The choice isn't really a binary one between ASP and Local. Many local vendors offer integrated remote backup services as part of their solutions. Some even offer on-site disaster recovery services. ASP data centers can burn down or be flooded. The key principle (regardless of ASP or local) is to have a thorough and tested disaster recovery policy that incorporates having multiple copies of the data securely stored.