Why you need Epic Business Continuity Access and an Incident Recovery Application
Downtime is inevitable. Disruption doesn't have to be.
Whether caused by planned maintenance, unexpected outages, or cyber security incidents, system downtime is a reality every healthcare organization must face. But patient care can’t wait. That’s why having both Epic Business Continuity Access (BCA) and an Incident Recovery Application (IRA) strategy is essential. Together, they ensure your organization can maintain
operations and patient care during an incident and effectively recover afterward.
What is Epic Business Continuity Access (BCA)?
Epic BCA is a suite of tools that ensures users can access critical patient information even when the main Epic system is offline. It includes:
- BCA PC: Standalone computers deployed across ambulatory clinics and throughout hospitals to print physical copies of patient info for use in conjunction with downtime procedures — even without network or power. This is a minimum requirement to maintain patient care.
- BCA Web and Web Data Entry: A web-based portal for viewing reports, printing patient labels and entering essential data like ADT events during downtime so an up-to-date census is available. It also allows events and notes to file back into Epic, reducing manual work during recovery.
- Isolated Recovery Environment: A pre-configured environment with a limited version of Epic that is accessed via a web browser to allow basic ADT and clinical note access along with secure chat, In Basket and basic appointment scheduling. This requires the use of Epic software called Harbor, which is available with the Epic November 2024 release and can be made available back to the February 2024 version with Special Updates.
Why BCA matters
BCA ensures that the hospital can continue to function at a basic level and access important information while IT and security teams work on recovery measures.
- Continuity of Care: Clinicians can still access vital patient data to make informed decisions.
- Operational Resilience: Keeps workflows moving during outages or cyber events.
- Regulatory Compliance: Supports paper-based documentation to ensure nothing is missed.
What is Incident Recovery Application (IRA)?
IRA refers to the post-downtime recovery process that ensures all data captured during the
outage is safely and accurately integrated back into the Epic system.
Key IRA functions
- Data Reconciliation: Transfers downtime records into the live system without data loss.
- System Restoration: Verifies data integrity and supports safe reactivation of Epic.
- Audit Readiness: Ensures complete and accurate records for compliance and reporting.
Why you need both: A dual strategy for resilience
During the Incident
BCA keeps patient care going with access to critical data.
Prevents chaos and delays in care.
Supports clinicians with tools like SRO, BCA PC, and Web Entry.
After the Incident
IRA ensures all downtime data is reconciled and restored accurately.
Protects data integrity and supports regulatory compliance.
Helps IT teams safely bring systems back online.
Best practices for implementation
- Deploy BCA PCs across all care sites.
- Set up BCA Web servers and ensure users have specific security added to their Epic template to allow them to access the web portal and enter data.
- Configure CSN and MRN assignments to avoid duplicates in the Epic system.
- Establish clear downtime protocols by site/department for data reconciliation and system restoration.
- Conduct regular drills to ensure readiness across clinical and IT teams.
- Create a workflow to send special downtime reports daily.
- Create a separate cloud server environment with a secure connection to the primary data center. Epic Hosting offers this service.
