Disaster happens
Plan now to protect your vital documents
By Van Carlisle

Disasters happen. Fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, even catastrophic snow storms destroy homes and businesses without warning.

You, like many other business owners, may have already shifted from paper to digital records. But are your records — paper or electronic — properly stored and protected? Are you prepared if disaster strikes?

A catastrophe can destroy records in a number of ways. The most common reason for a document to be unusable after a fire or flood is water damage. The fire suppression systems in a building and hoses used to extinguish the flames can often create the most damage to documents.

VRP TO THE RESCUE

Vital records protection (VRP) describes the process and measures taken by an organization to protect vital records, which contain information essential to the survival of an organization, in the event of a business interruption or disaster.

If you do not properly manage VRP, the success of your chiropractic practice is at risk, along with your patients’ privileged information. If this patient information is lost, stolen, or destroyed, a potential HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) violation could cause your practice to close its doors.

HIPAA regulations consist of a set of national standards designed to force chiropractic practices, as well as the entire healthcare community, to follow strict security and privacy rules in order to fully protect personal health information. Breaking HIPAA regulations can result in fines and, in some cases, criminal and civil penalties.

Some doctors are hesitant to convert fully to digital record storage for fear of losing information through viruses or an electronic system crash. You can eliminate this risk by taking necessary VRP-based precautions prior to a conversion to electronic record storage. 

Here are the steps to take:

1. Classify practice documents. Assign the administrative responsibility to someone (such as your office manager) for classifying all documents — not just patient records — by level of importance to your practice’s operation.

Suggested labels include:

• Vital. These are irreplaceable documents.
• Important. Not irreplaceable, but reproducing them would incur considerable expense, time, and labor.
• Useful. These are records that, if lost, will cause some inconvenience, but could be readily replaced.
• Nonessential. These are records in line for routine destruction.

2. Develop a backup program. After classification is complete, design a program for backing up records. Perform backup tasks at least several times per week — every day if feasible.

This way, in the very worst-case scenario, you will lose only one (or a few) day(s) of information in the event of a catastrophe.

3. Secure records in a fireproof container. Simply classifying and developing a backup program is not enough. Once you complete the first two steps, secure the vital, most important, and some useful practice records in a fireproof container.

There are several different practical reasons why patient and practice records should be stored in fireproof containers. Some of the most important uses of medical records include acquiring proper documentation of a diagnosis and resulting treatment of a patient’s health or disease; usage as a means for further clinical research and quality care assessments; providing support for a defense in a possible future litigation; or addressing reimbursement issues with a third party, such as an insurance company. 

Regardless of why vital records need to be kept safe from damage, all chiropractic offices — no matter what size — need to dispense with, as best as possible, the risk of permanently losing these types of records.

GET THE RIGHT STORAGE CONTAINER

Not all storage containers provide adequate security for your documents.

• Look for the UL label. Select a container tested and rated by the Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) or another nationally known independent testing lab; and

• Pick the right type of container. It is also crucial to procure the correct container for its proposed contents.

For example: If most of your digital data is stored on CDs or Zip drives, choose specially designed containers called media vaults. These units are small, portable, fireproof containers designed to protect patient records stored on CDs, Zip disks, diskettes, and microfiche from the damaging effects of heat, humidity, dust, and magnetic fields.

Even if you use off-site record storage, at some point you will have vital records on-site with a need to protect them. Establish risk-management policies and put them into action long before an emergency arises.

The need for chiropractic practices to better manage vital records has increased dramatically over the past few years. Gain an understanding of this issue now, to figure out the best set of vital records protection solutions for your practice.

An expert on vital records protection, Van Carlisle is president and CEO of FireKing — a security and loss-prevention company. He can be contacted at vanc@fireking.com or through his company’s Web site, www.fireking.com.