Downtime Procedure Survey Results

Dean F. Sittig, PhD, and Daniel A. Gonzalez Carrero, University of Texas – Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality & Safety. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine, “Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care” recommends that healthcare organizations have contingency plans in place to mitigate any potential issues related to planned and unplanned downtime of their health information technology (HIT) infrastructure. A review of numerous current HIT downtime practices and literature revealed that there is not a comprehensive understanding or method of preparing for HIT downtime. Through research we found a number of best practices from around the country that healthcare organizations may want to adapt and implement into their own HIT downtime plans and processes.