Business Challenge

Over the past several years different approaches have been taken to develop a functional disaster recovery plan. The project was attempted internally by the client but was unsuccessful. The hospital brought in a variety of different vendors to assist with the development of such a plan. The final delivered plan had not been tested appropriately or implemented to provide the client with the plan they needed in the event of a disaster. There was no major emphasis put on refining the plan or further development until the hospital experienced an actual disaster. The hospital had a water pipe located above their main medical records system and it burst. This event forced the client to deeply examine and complete an appropriate disaster recovery plan. An IBS partner was engaged to develop the plan for them.

IBS was brought in by the partner (OTC) to provide consulting support in developing an IT Contingency and Business Continuity planning strategy and Road Map for the hospital finance committee and board of directors. IBS was selected to lead the project due to our DR/BCP consulting methods; subject matter expertise, ability to rapidly demonstrate understanding of the hospitals business and technology challenges and ability formulate logical and relevant solutions.

The goal for the client was to demonstrate best practice strategies to deliver information systems services and continue the highest levels of patient care to the community in the event of a disaster. Systems and applications included:

• Electronic medical records (EMR), ADT, Order Entry, Patient Accounting, Radiology/Imaging services, Reports & Distribution, Workflow.
• Emergency Care, Electronic Signature, Care Manager, Patient Monitoring, CPOE, Clinical Profile, Clinical Bench Marketing, PACs, Lab Dictaphone,
• Physicians Portal, Medical Supply and a variety of other applications.
• An alternative data center solution was required for Solcom, Series, and Horizon Clinical.

Services Provided by IBS

IBS provided project management, business analysis and industry expertise to develop an appropriate business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

Benefits

• IBS worked with the CIO, COO, IT Director and other key staff to develop a long-term DR/BCP strategy for the hospital.
• An Executive Summary Report and Road Map was delivered to prioritize DR/BCP related project initiatives, determine resource levels, and develop budgets.
• IT services related issues for JCAHO and HIPAA compliance were addressed as part of the overall DR/BCP strategy.
• A business continuity organizational structure was initiated for execution.
• An alternate data center solution was delivered.