Evidence-Based Contingency Planning for Electronic Health Record Downtime

The author created a discrete-event simulation to understand how two hospitals were impacted by electronic health record downtime in the lab and the emergency department. Downtime risks identified included delayed care, increased medical errors, and disrupted communication. Recommendations for minimizing impact include increasing staffing to compensate for downtime, having emergency planners compare downtime and uptime to develop contingency plans and improve care during these events.