AJAX Web Technology Gains Ground

For those of you who visit Yahoo! on a regular basis, you may have noticed a site redesign in the past few days. What you may not notice is if you use Yahoo! mail or any of its' user based features; it's a little bit faster. The reason is the use of a better web software technology called AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

AdvancedMD's Web-based medical billing and EMR software was designed using AJAX over six years ago as a way to make the web interface respond as if it were installed on a local machine. Microsoft recently issued a case study on AdvancedMD's use of their AJAX technology.

The bottom line is AJAX is a great web technology that allows faster response time with database driven applications. More and more websites will undoubtably use AJAX in the near future.

To get a free demo of AdvancedMD's AJAX driven medical office software, click here.

Many Options for Medical Record Storage

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans sounded a wake up call to corporate America that preparation can stave off many ill effects of a disaster. This is especially true regarding record keeping, considering in New Orleans alone the effect on lost records was staggering for many industries including:

Legal – 33% of attorneys lost their offices, libraries, computers and client files. Many courts lost key evidence due to flood damage.

Business – Many small business owners had to reconstruct business records to file for SBA disaster loans to remain solvent. Filing taxes and securing institutional financing also require detailed business records.

Medical – Nearly one million people from New Orleans had medical records destroyed by flood waters.

Many residents had personal records destroyed. Even paying the monthly bills after the flooding required the skills of a forensic accountant.

While many records were washed away, there were some bright spots we can learn from. The Financial and Banking industries had extensive backup systems, like remote location storage and electronic records, that were able to be restored quickly. The Veterans Administration also preserved data with its’ electronic medical record system. They were able to restore 50,000 records from New Orleans overnight. The VA also managed to transfer all their patient records from the South in 100 hours. In contrast, private healthcare companies took thousands of hours to reconstruct their patient records.

Bear in mind the events of last summer were a rare occurrence, but businesses can be exposed to record destroying scenarios at any time. Floods, fires, burglaries, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and even broken pipes can happen at any time. In fact, some record storage companies have had disasters of their own. In 1996, a Chicago records company lost 220,000 boxes of records to an accidental fire. The next year, three arson fires in New Jersey claimed one million boxes of records, affecting 200 companies. Later that year, a Scranton, PA company lost a building full of records the size of a football field to a suspicious fire. If it wasn’t for a disaster recovery plan, an L.A. depository would have lost trailers full of records in the rioting following the Rodney King verdict.

With the potential for records loss looming from a number of possible sources, what medical record storage options are there?

Onsite storage of critical documents is a risky solution unless you can afford a water-proof, theft-proof, fire-proof, explosion-proof vault. Accessing records from the workplace is important, so any records plan should provide for office access, while also storing backups in a safe location. That safe location should almost never be the same place as the business. While storing records on a high shelf may protect from water damage, that solution won’t protect against theft or fire.

Storage Units

Some businesses store backup data in a run of the mill storage unit. While having those records offsite is a good idea, a regular storage unit still has quite a bit of liability. Storage units are often broken into and some tenants defy the rules by storing flammable material. One tenant actually lived in his storage unit and started a fire that caused $750,000 in damage to other's contents. The fire department couldn’t quite pin down the source of the fire, but suspected it could have come from the propane heater, the barbeque, the gas powered generator or several lamps the tenant used in his storage unit.

Business Storage

Firms that specifically handle the storage of business records offsite are also a choice. However, as we saw earlier in this article, they are also susceptible to disaster. A business could pay extra for “vault” like protection. With HIPAA, medical businesses must also provide protections for patient data, which can be cost prohibitive.

Electronic Storage

An increasing choice for many businesses is to archive business records electronically by scanning documents and saving them to CD or DVD. This is a much better choice for record storage because the amount of paper is eliminated and replaced with smaller disks. There is still a need to protect those disks though. While disks are flood proof, they are not fire proof, so storing them in a safe place with proper access is still a need.

Remote Electronic Storage

Imagine if your paper records could be converted digitally, protected from disaster and securely accessible from anywhere. That is what the Internet is capable of now. Instead of storing data on a CD or DVD, it is stored on a computer server connected to the Internet. The data on the server is backed up on multiple computers in multiple locations at the same time. This process of co-location is what enables websites like Google, Yahoo! and every major e-commerce company to always be online.

Server rooms cost millions of dollars to equip. They are often built in remote, secure locations...sometimes underground or in bored out granite mountains. The benefit is if one location were to have a power outage or disaster hit it, another location would have the connection and data instantly. This concept of “redundancy” is what keeps the Internet going no matter what.

As far as record storage options go, this method practically guarantees the safety of data from disaster. Despite these advantages, the Internet has created security fears due to hackers and recently reported losses of data. Software as a Service (SAAS) has addressed these security concerns and business fears of the Internet have decreased to the point many small businesses feel confident in running their business over the Internet.

Depending on your business practices (paper / electronic), your size and your budget; any of these choices may work well. The key is to have a backup plan for vital business records in case of emergency.

Resources

Vital Records Protection Issues

When Disaster Strikes, Will Your Vital Records be Safe?

Fire in Storage Unit Used as Residence

Quotable Quote
"The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.”