Is your practice prepared for the unexpected?

It can happen at any time: a fire, flood, storm, or even a prolonged power outage. These events can cause significant, and even irreparable, damage: Nearly 40% of small organizations hit by a disaster never recover, according to FEMA.

The biggest mistake practice owners can make when it comes to disaster planning is thinking they don’t need it. The reality is that the number of major disasters hitting the U.S. each year has more than doubled. Smaller events, such as floods from leaking equipment and smoke damage from small fires, also pose a threat.

Taking even a few steps to assess your current disaster readiness and making small changes to lessen your risk can dramatically mitigate the impact. Review these steps to start the process:

Identify critical assets

Assess your technology and tools to identify vulnerabilities. Keep in mind that even a small flood or fire can damage or destroy critical equipment and electronics. Recognizing which items are vulnerable is the first step to securing them to avoid damage or having to replace them if a disaster hits.

Consider what tools you rely on over the course of a week or month to ensure you include items that may not be part of your team’s daily routine. A starting point includes:

• Computers
• Servers
• Diagnostic equipment
• Printers
• Phones
• Credit card terminals

Review your insurance policies

Understand your coverage for the items that are critical to your practice, particularly ones you would need to replace quickly. Policies often have restrictions on what they’ll replace or cover. The source of the damage — e.g., internal or external, preventable or out of your control — may determine what’s covered. Record the make, model, and serial numbers of these items, and keep the records in an offsite location. Also, take pictures of items to help with claim filing.

Protect practice data

Make a habit of backing up critical information offsite, such as billing and electronic health records. Frequent backups will increase the odds of a speedy and successful recovery post-disaster. Consider using a secure, HIPAA-compliant cloud backup service that will allow you and your team to access files securely from any internet-connected location. Test your backup regularly to be sure it’s working correctly.

Take steps to secure important physical records as well by considering storage that has been rated for fire and water resistance. You might also scan these records and back them up electronically as another way to protect them.

Plan for safety

Check that first-aid kits, fire extinguishers, and other emergency supplies are easy to access. Be sure that everyone knows where all the exits are, and consider practicing evacuation routes. Even if the best way out seems straightforward, confusion when lighting is diminished or people are distressed can make such basics less clear. Keep in mind that you or staff may also need to escort patients out during a disaster.

Choose a central meeting place that helps you verify that all staff is accounted for, as well as an alternate spot in case that location is inaccessible. Be sure that you and your employees have one another’s cell phone numbers stored; as an added precaution, consider forming a group on a messaging service that can be used to contact team members if phone networks are down.

Prepare for continuity

Determine where you could operate from if your building were inaccessible. This might be a community center or within another practice. Assemble supplies you would need to run your practice remotely for a short time, such as wound care supplies, blood pressure cuffs, and basic medications.

Decide how patients will be notified about a temporary practice closure or change of location — for example, through phone calls or posts on your website and social media pages. Be sure to include instructions for how patients can access care. Also, check that any home health agencies you work with are prepared to care for patients during a disaster. Determine who will be responsible for these tasks as well as others, such as contacting vendors and suppliers to make arrangements post-disaster.

Organize contact information

If technology or files are damaged, contact details for employees, patients, and vendors may be hard to access. Prolonged lack of access could bring your practice to a standstill post-disaster.

Prepare for this by ensuring that employees assigned to notify patients, vendors, and other important contacts have the information they need. If the disaster is foreseeable, you or an employee might notify the next day’s patients with alternate arrangements. Check that other key information, such as insurance company contacts and policy numbers, is accessible.

The bottom line

The more thoroughly you prepare for a disaster, the less disruptive it may be to your practice, employees, and patients. Re-evaluate your plans over time to be sure they’ll continue to cover all critical aspects of your practice and operations.