Healthcare Data Archiving Checklist

This healthcare data archiving checklist includes six key steps that should not be ignored to archive healthcare data successfully.

Let’s begin.

Identify ROI & Risk Mitigation Benefits

First, healthcare organizations need to identify the return on investment (ROI) and risk mitigation benefits of healthcare data archiving.

For example, healthcare data archiving can help healthcare organizations comply with healthcare regulations. This includes the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In addition, healthcare data archiving can help healthcare organizations improve patient care and safety by providing access to historical patient data.

Healthcare data archiving requires an investment—of both time and money. Investing in a healthcare data archive can provide both hard and soft ROI for healthcare organizations. Your investment can reduce the overall expenditure for the organization by removing ongoing maintenance costs for hosting the legacy system, increase productivity for archived record access, and provide security measures to eliminate risk. 

The Benefits of Archiving Healthcare Data

There are a number of reasons healthcare organizations should archive their data. These include:

• Reducing the risk of data loss due to hardware or software failures
• Mitigating the risks associated with employee turnover
• Improving compliance with healthcare regulations, including HIPAA and state regulations
• Enhancing disaster recovery efforts
• Retiring legacy systems and data with peace of mind

Each of these benefits is impressive in its own right. But together, they make a strong case for healthcare data archiving.

Along with the many benefits that come from identifying the benefits of healthcare data archiving, it’s equally useful to understand the risk mitigation components as well. These include:

• Ensuring only authorized personnel have access to patient healthcare data
• That patient healthcare data is properly backed up
• That historical patient healthcare data is not lost if the primary system fails

Enlist Key Stakeholders in the Process

Next, it’s time to bring in some key stakeholders to help you with healthcare data archiving projects. Identifying the key stakeholders will allow the archiving project to remain on track and ensure that all archiving elements are outlined before project launch. Depending on the extent of the archive, key stakeholders may include clinicians, IT, IT security, and compliance officers to ensure that the archive meets the needs of the organization while providing sufficient information and security in the new data archive. 

Get IT On Board with the Healthcare Data Archiving Process

Getting an IT team on board with a healthcare data archive is the next important step in this healthcare data archiving checklist. After all, the IT team will play a role in assuring the archive is secure and compliant with healthcare regulations. They can also help locate data and identify potential problems or issues with the current system. In addition, the IT team can help you to determine what type of healthcare data archiving solution will best meet an organization’s needs.

Keep It Simple, But Not Incomplete

Simple is one thing, but incomplete is another. When it comes to healthcare data archiving, it’s helpful to make sure a healthcare organization doesn’t go too far in the wrong direction and end up with an incomplete solution. A good healthcare data archive is comprehensive enough to meet all of their needs while still being easy to use.

Start Simple

Along with keeping healthcare data archiving simple, it’s also important to start simple and in many cases, slowly—covering a healthcare facility’s most basic needs before moving on to more complex projects. This helps ensure the healthcare data archiving system you implement is effective and efficient from the get-go, setting a facility up for long-term success. 

It also means accepting that this is a long-term process. Archiving is not an overnight project and outlining the framework for the archive is an essential first step that can be built upon to achieve the intended result. 

Anticipate Long-Term Needs

A short-term solution is just that: short-term. But due to the long-term compliance concerns and the nature of healthcare data, it’s essential to anticipate long-term healthcare data needs. 

This means that the chosen healthcare data archiving solution should have the ability to scale as facilities grow. Additionally, the healthcare data archiving solution you choose should also be able to accommodate future compliance regulations. By anticipating long-term needs, organizations can save themselves a lot of headaches (and money) down the road.

Now that you’ve made it to the end of this healthcare data archiving checklist, your organization should be well on its way to implementing a healthcare data archiving solution that will work for the facility. 

Just remember to keep the ROI and risk mitigation benefits in mind, enlist key stakeholders, get IT on board, keep it simple but not incomplete, start simple, and anticipate long-term needs.

With these steps in mind, you’ll be sure to set your healthcare facility up for success.