Backup for General Practitioners

Data backup is an ongoing issue for medical administrators. For most, it's meant copying files every day onto tapes or disks and taking them home. But many practices forget to do that, or do it incorrectly, or forget to replace worn-out tapes. And carrying around unencrypted data means it occasionally gets lost or stolen. Breach of Privacy anyone?

Many practices are diligent in their backups then store it onsite, and many businesses use re-writable backups only, not keeping point-in-time backups.

In light of these regulations, medical practices must implement a secure, offsite and automated backup system.

Do you comply with the RACGP Standards?

(Royal Aust. College of General Practitioners)

Criterion 4.2.2 - Information security

“The security of patient health information in our practice is maintained.”

backups of electronic information are performed at a frequency consistent with a documented information disaster recovery plan
backups of electronic information are stored in a secure offsite environment

Three key reasons for GP's to use Datagard:-

Backups are not backups unless they are performed frequently and consistently. In the busy environment of a medical practice, daily backups are a burden to staff who don’t always have the time to guarantee consistency. Human error is the most common cause of data loss so it is recommended to find a system that minimizes staff involvement.
What does offsite mean? Backups must be stored offsite to comply with the Standards. It goes without saying that any data stored within your practice is not a true backup. Tapes or disks stored onsite generally suffer the same consequences as the original data, whether it be theft or burglary, fire, flood or other damage. Backups stored offsite can be relied on when disaster happens.
What is a secure environment? Even once the backups are offsite, you must be able to guarantee the security of the storage environment. Professional backup service providers offer this and it is difficult to achieve within the means of a medical practice. As well as the fact storage at a private residence is not a secure environment, personally transporting the backups from point A to B each day is a high risk to the data and the privacy of its contents. Lost backups are common and this could mean a serious breach of privacy.