Revolving around the core of technology
The healthcare industry holds many IT concerns that require more than the standard security solution. Even normal safety operations like backup require special considerations.
Compliance
Your care of health care data is subject to the stringent requirements of HIPAA and potential legal discovery. It also happens to be highly personal and you owe it to your patients to do what you can to keep it confidential.
Because the data is so sensitive, you may have good reason to be suspicious of backup services which store your confidential patient data on someone else's servers located who knows where. Better to back up to your own equipment, whether on or off-site.
Are all communications over the wire encrypted? Are the backed-up files themselves encrypted when at rest, i.e. on disk?
Everyone supports Windows, but what if you have some Macs? What if you want to back up to inexpensive Linux-based NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices, such as those from Synology or Western Digital? A good solution runs on all of these.
Can you easily define which users have access to which files? Can you easily generate reports of what systems are being backed up and when? Can you easily report on which aren't being backed up?
Backup systems from big-name companies cost over $1000 to cover even just a few systems. How do you measure return on investment for such a program? This is a difficult question, more about philosophy than business. While backup is crucial, paying more than you have to never makes sense.
To be sure, there are plenty of mainstream concerns which apply to IT as well as everyone else. Does the system perform well, both for backup and restore?
Are restores simple to do? Is the system reliable? Do backups happen automatically or only when they are scheduled or explicitly run? Can you backup and restore securely over the Internet?
| Created on: | Apr 2, 2015 |
| Last updated on: | Oct 5, 2024 |