Meteorologists track storm cells, which gives us time to mitigate disaster. Likewise, as those of us in health care keep a “storm watch” for potential disasters and emergencies, we can prepare for every possible situation that could affect operational resilience.
One major cyber storm in the industry this year has alerted us all to the pressing need to bolster our emergency readiness before another catastrophic cyber incident. How can you respond strategically and enhance your organization’s abilities to endure cyber—and other—disruptions so you can rebound quickly?
Becoming prepared is complex and requires a multifaceted approach. On top of that, even if you are still in recovery mode from the last disaster, you must simultaneously get ready for the next one. With that in mind, we’ve created this guide, a road map on your path to preparedness toward financial and data resilience no matter the disaster.
Pause and Assess Risks
Your journey starts with a fact-finding mission. Before you can know what changes your organization may need to make, you first need all the information in one place. Here are two milestones for this step.
Evaluate your systems and data. Start with an audit: which systems touch your data? Where does your data live? Once you know, schedule regular risk assessments to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities and update emergency plans, considering the ever-changing nature of risks and threats.
Identify every possible emergency scenario. As you determine risks, keep in mind everything from large natural disasters to local events like floods and fires. Be alert also of bad actors and cyber incidents that can paralyze data, finances, and records. With your full list of risks, you can start developing incident response protocols for every scenario. Include regular reevaluation for this step as well.
Ensure Data Accessibility
Once you understand the current status, you can start making or revising your plans for cash flow and data protection, which are closely related. During an emergency, delayed access to crucial data can significantly impede medical claims processing and revenue cycles, but you can take these steps to bolster your data resilience.
Use standard data formats. From the audit you did previously in the first step of the road map, you know if your claims use proprietary or non-standard data formats. Being unable to seamlessly transition to alternative systems or vendors can quickly lead to operational disruptions and financial losses. For this reason, it’s best to use industry-standard data formats (e.g., X12, HL7) for medical claims, patient records, and other mission-critical data.
Keep mission-critical info on hand. Make sure you always have immediate access to key information for enrolling with backup clearinghouses. With data usable across any platform, health-care organizations can ensure easier switching during critical emergencies. This promotes interoperability and enables a smoother transition to any new system, minimizing the impact on revenue cycles and patient care.
Create a Robust Backup Plan
Now your data is accessible, so claims and business will flow as usual during an emergency, right? Maybe. This step on the road map will help you identify and mitigate lingering vulnerabilities.
Create a failover system for data backup and recovery. In the event of a primary system failure, a reliable failover system can ensure uninterrupted access to critical data and minimize downtime.
Implement redundant internet service providers (ISPs). If there’s an outage with your ISP, you need to be able to continue submitting claims. In an emergency, having a second ISP available will provide uninterrupted connectivity.
Enroll with multiple clearinghouses. This move goes beyond just ensuring data accessibility. It’s smart to have redundancies here also, and you can even use more than one clearinghouse as part of business as usual. Then, when one experiences an outage or cyber incident, you can switch to another clearinghouse connection and mitigate disruption.
Strengthen procedures. It’s great to have redundancies in your plan, but you also need to know when to use them. So develop procedures that help the right people know when to transition to backup systems and alternative providers—and back again.
Commit to Continuous Improvement
You’ve come a long way. But emergency preparedness isn’t something you can set and forget. Changes happen in the industry, in climate, and in the severity and prevalence of cyberthreats. So your plans throughout this step of the road map will need to continue to evolve as well.
Learn from the best. What are other organizations doing to protect themselves and increase their operational resilience? You can incorporate lessons learned from real-world incidents and industry leaders.
Regularly review, test, and update plans. Just as important as creating your comprehensive backup plan is regularly reviewing and testing it. Conduct simulations and drills to pressure-test your emergency protocols. This gives you feedback you need to keep your plans current and stay ahead of emerging risks.
Foster a culture of preparedness and resilience. Leaders set the tone for their organizations. Your attitude and actions to promote preparedness will help your entire team successfully anticipate and navigate emergencies.
Your Destination
Ensuring robust emergency protocols is crucial for hospitals and health systems. Of course, while some disasters can be avoided, others can only be mitigated, but as you follow this road map, you’ll achieve your destination of the best possible resilience. With your comprehensive disaster recovery plan outlining roles, responsibilities, and procedures, you can be ready for all situations.
At the heart of your preparation journey is always having access to your data, which can help you keep cash flowing, even if a system or clearinghouse is down. Office Ally can help you be ready for the unexpected with its all-payer Clearinghouse platform that’s connected to more than 3,000 payers, helping to ensure the uninterrupted flow of medical claims and revenue, even during emergencies. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your organization gain peace of mind as it achieves operational resilience.