Contingency Planning in Healthcare

Design enterprise-wide strategic planning and information management tools and resources for mission-critical business decisions.

Associated Reading:
• https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-rules-on-contingency-planning/

Associated Videos:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxE940f7iq0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BEHifFotqg

HIPAA requires that all covered entities and business associates adequately plan in case of an event that disrupts normal day-to-day operations.
Assume you are the department head of an HIM department in a large healthcare institution. You have an electronic patient record and your vendor provides cloud back-up. Your department reports to IT and the following activities are housed in your department:
• Release of Information: this is done via snail mail, email, and electronic faxing
• Coding of diagnoses and procedures
• Required registries such as cancer, trauma, and other
• Scanning of paper patient information obtained either by fax, mail, or drop off. This includes a quality review of any information scanned into the chart.
• Physician credentialing
• Maintenance of the EHR systems
• Master Patient Index maintenance—including checking for duplicate records
• Maintenance of the Chargemaster
• Birth registration
• Physician support: providing physicians in the institution and external to the institution with health information to support real time patient care

1. In the case of a natural disaster hitting your facility (such as a tornado), what would you do first?
2. Who would perform an initial damage assessment?
3. Should there be rules regarding re-entry into the facility? Who should make those decisions?
4. If you cannot get back into the department, where will you set up operations?
5. Who needs to be notified if your department must cease or slow operations? Consider staff, vendors, business associates.
6. What means of communication will be used to stay in contact with employees? How will you get in touch with them? How will they get in touch with you?
7. If power is out, what steps will be taken to ensure that medical records are available to patients and providers?
8. What arrangements will be made to create records for patients coming to the facility?
9. What data is most critical to be captured on these patients?
10. What information will be back-entered into the system when it is available, and what will be scanned in? Be specific.
11. Identify the critical activities that need to be established/completed immediately, within 24 hours, within 48 hours, and those that can wait until a later time period.

Sample Solution