Disaster Recovery Planning For A Medical Office

Imagine what it must have been like for medical offices in New Orleans following the floods and damage of Hurricane Katrina. It was a few weeks before doctors could get back in touch with their patients and many important calls just never got through.

Such things are beginning to be addressed through nationwide medical answering service providers who ensure that business will remain as normal and consistent as possible throughout any kind of disaster or catastrophic weather event.

How is this done? Modern technology actually makes it fairly simple for even a smaller medical practice to receive comprehensive disaster recovery solutions. This can include uninterrupted services regardless of the condition of power and telephone lines. Emergency facility partnerships are created by the better answering services, and these allow "standby" equipment in the event of any kind of disaster. What this means is that all calls and communications are easily, safely and assuredly transferred directly into the partner equipment and a doctor's office never loses contact with any patients.

Are there any other services that can be offered for disaster recovery planning? Certainly! The best providers understand that a doctor may not be able to handle every single call during an emergency and may be able to cope only with the most critical issues. To deal with such a scenario in the safest and most effective manner possible, most of the better medical answering service providers offer something called "nurse telephone triage". This is a licensed and practicing nurse who can speak directly with a patient to offer them support, advice and assistance with their medical questions or emergencies. Imagine how helpful this can be during times of crisis!

Regardless of the status of any situation, however, all operators and telephone answering service staff should be HIPAA compliant. This is a pretty significant issue, especially during emergency situations, but also on a regular basis as well. Only those providers who are prepared for emergencies and who are HIPAA compliant should be used for the special and specific needs of a medical office. Consider that most of the better medical call center operations will record all calls, keep all kinds of records and use a variety of technologies - all of these must comply with state and federal regulations as well as any HIPAA rules around privacy as well.

Modern technology can be extremely helpful, particularly during times of disaster, mishap and emergency, and will allow a medical professional and their patients to remain in communication around the clock.