News: Ransomware Attack Forces Connecticut Hospital System to Revert to Paper

5 September 2023

AUTHORED BY: DB Technology
The healthcare industry has been the target of several Ransomware attacks in recent years, with the Northeastern region of the United States being particularly hard hit. Recently, several hospitals and medical facilities owned by Prospect Medical Holdings in multiple states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Southern California, had no choice but to halt normal care operations due to a Ransomware attack.

One of the consequences of the attack was a reversion to paper-based patient record-keeping across several facilities, underscoring the urgent need for hospitals to adopt comprehensive EHR downtime solutions that eliminate the risks associated with manual data handling. Downtime processes may be temporary fixes, but they can lead to critical inaccuracies in handling patient data.

The Downsides of Paper-based EHR Downtime Procedures

The forced reliance on paper records during a Ransomware attack disrupts the continuity of patient care while leaving patient data vulnerable to inaccuracies or mistakes when being updated or transferred. Paper-based EHR downtime procedures are prone to human error, with any mistakes putting patients’ health and lives at risk. The manual handling of records also creates added expenses, delays, and frustrations for staff, patients, and their families. EHR downtime solutions are critical to enable healthcare providers to shift away from paper records, with their risks, to more secure and reliable electronic records that ensure the continuity of patient care during downtime.

Downtime solutions make the downtime process as effortless as possible, ensuring that the data flows into the system when it is offline without sacrificing consistency, security, or access. Better still, the EHR downtime solutions provide a speedy recovery process, minimizing the impact of downtime and resulting in less stress and frustration for medical professionals.

The Importance of EHR Downtime Solutions in Ransomware Attacks 

The urgency and importance of having reliable downtime solutions for hospitals in an unanticipated downtime event have never been more critical. Healthcare providers need a comprehensive downtime solution that negates the need for paper-based workflows during network or system outage. Providers need to be able to submit patient data electronically to the EHR system, eliminating costly errors and saving significant time.

dbtech understands the stress and anxiety that healthcare providers undergo when they can’t access or manage electronic medical records during system downtime. Our EHR downtime solution gives health and hospital systems access to innovative, adaptive solutions that reduce the risk of data loss and ensure uninterrupted patient care. The core goal is to ensure hospitals have the necessary infrastructure to continue delivering excellent care, even when critical services are disrupted.

Healthcare Organizations Run on dbtech’s EHR Downtime Solutions

dbtech’s EHR downtime provides several critical functions, including but not limited to automated data entry and patient record management, while simplifying operational processes. These crucial functions ensure that healthcare providers can maintain consistently high levels of patient care, even during prolonged system downtime.

Contact dbtech today for a demo to learn how dbtech’s EHR downtime solutions can help your healthcare organization navigate system downtime effortlessly without jeopardizing the continuity and quality of patient care.

 

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