Tuesday, July 12, 2011

PROTECT YOUR PRACTICE IN CASE OF A DISASTER

Although it seems impossible to protect your office from a disaster as large as what happened Japan, there are immediate and monthly measures you can take to mitigate damage caused by nature such as a fire, flood, hurricane, tornado or earthquake.

I hope you never need to use them.

Three main categories to protect are people, records and the future of your practice.

People

Your patients and staff are most important.

Although it is unlikely that you will remain in the office following a disaster, it may be the safest place. Have emergency flash lights, hard wired and cell phones, bottled water and basic non-perishable food supplies on hand.

Have a plan to contact employees if a disaster strikes before or after office hours. Store employees’ (and their contact person’s) phone numbers in a cell phone as well as on a printed list.

Have an out of town or out of state contact person for everyone to call since local phone lines and cell phone towers most likely will be affected. Long distance phone lines are often functioning before local infrastructure is repaired. During the Northridge earthquake my friend in Virginia served this purpose. Although we could not call each other, all of us could call her and she could call each of us. She also told us the extent of the damage since she was watching the coverage on TV and we had no power.

If your voice mail is working, you can change the message to inform your patients of the status of your office, i.e., open, closed or seeing patients elsewhere. You can change this as often as you need.

You can also use your practice web page to inform patients you are open or where to find you until you reopen and post a temporary telephone number. You can update it frequently.

Records

If you have electronic medical records or a web based billing system, your records may be safe. to your providers about back up solutions and their disaster plans. For example, California businesses whose web servers were in those southern states were affected by Katrina.

Future of Your Practice

To safeguard the future of your practice, storing copies of your records off site is your best protection. Have a safe deposit box at least one hour away for flash drives, discs, tapes and photocopies of important papers.

Back up your computer daily. Video your entire office to show the major equipment, furnishings and wall decorations and their condition for insurance purposes.

Store the tape in the safe deposit box and mail a copy to a trusted friend or relative who lives far away.

There are other ways to retrieve lost records. Third party payors have some of your billing data.  The Internal Revenue Service, your banks, equipment leasing and insurance companies have your financial and equipment data.



PROTECTING DATA

Store in a safe deposit box one hour away -

copies of important papers; leases, licenses, managed care contracts, tax  returns, corporation documents, insurance policies

phone numbers and Email addresses of referring physicians, vendors, advisors

detailed aged accounts receivable year end back up

checking accounts year end back up

video or photos of office equipment, furnishings and decorations



Store in your home

one month advance printouts of appointment schedules

printout of employees’ phone numbers and contact person’s

printout of referring physicians’ phone numbers

aged accounts receivable daily back up

checking accounts daily back up

phone numbers and Email addresses for staff, hospital departments, doctors, vendors and advisors

YOU HAVE INDIRECT BACK UP

third party payors

hospitals

labs

surgery centers

IRS

banks

CPA

attorneys


If you follow all these steps, survival and recovery of your practice should be assured.



Basic Disaster Preparedness Kit

Flash lights with fresh batteries

Spare bulbs for flashlights

Portable radio with fresh batteries (and hand cranked back up)

Packs of fresh batteries

Basic First Aid Kit

Bottled water sufficient for you, your staff and patients for at least 24 hours

Packaged foods (crackers, pretzels, nuts, dried fruits, hard candies)

Canned foods (tuna, salmon, fruits, cheese spreads)

Can openers, hand operated

Candles

Matches

Kleenex

Toilet paper

Paper towels

Baby wipes

Packets of eye glasses cleaning wipes (can be used as an antiseptic)

Blankets

Extra pair of glasses

Basic toiletries (bars of soap, wash cloths, toothpaste, tooth brushes)

Phone numbers for each staff member stored in a cell phone and on a print out

A print out of phone numbers for your and each of your staff’s family members and neighbors

Phone number of out of town contact person in cell phone and on print out

Cash



Note: The American Red Cross web page has more detailed lists.