subject: Disaster Recovery Measures are Vital in the Medical Industry [print this page] Disaster Recovery Measures are Vital in the Medical Industry
Imagine that there's a natural or human disaster in your home town. What's the single most important service going to be in that time of crisis? The answer is obvious: medical professionals and other emergency response specialists. If you run a medical office or service of any kind, you need to be sure that you are functioning at top capacity even in the event of a disaster. If you are inaccessible when you are required most, you will lose face and also the continued support of your clients.
Disaster recovery measures need to be in place, to assure that you are always reachable and never lose functionality. Few medical organizations and centers have the resources to do this alone, as there are many variables to consider: back-up power, information back-up and retrieval solutions, redundant telephone and satellite lines in the event of a severed connection, and off-site data storage. Luckily, disaster recovery is one of the services provided by many medical answering services. If you're in need of assistance in preparing your medical establishment to sustain a disaster situation, you can turn to one of these third-party agencies for that assistance.
It's important that you have a comprehensive plan for disaster recovery. One factor is that you'll want to keep your phone lines open. In the event of a communications failure, you'll want redundant telephone and satellite lines that you can access. This ensures that you don't go down with your telephone provider. You'll also want an off-site call answering solution, in the event that it is unsafe to be inside your medical office during the emergency. You'll want back-up power, including some way to access your databases and client information during a widespread power outage.
One medical office can only do so much alone, which is why nation-wide organizations are sometimes important partners in creating disaster recovery solutions. They can step in when your lines are down, with trained professionals fielding your calls in a location well removed from the site of the disaster. They keep your data stored in external storage sites, encrypted and safe from harm. In the case that your server goes down, you won't be forced to lose important information that your business rests upon.
In the event of a local or large-scale emergency, medical service providers are often in dire need. If they can't be accessed, the impact of the disaster can spread unmitigated. Having solutions in place to ensure that you are always accessible is of the utmost importance.
