In an era where digital infrastructure is the backbone of modern healthcare, unplanned system outages have emerged as a silent but devastating disruptor. Hospitals across the nation are increasingly reliant on electronic health records (EHRs), cloud-based systems and interconnected medical devices. While these technologies have revolutionized patient care, they also expose hospitals to significant vulnerabilities when systems fail unexpectedly.
This unscheduled IT downtime poses significant risks to the U.S. healthcare industry. The true cost of healthcare downtime — both in monetary and human terms — is staggering. Thankfully, well-designed hospital disaster preparedness plans and EHR downtime procedures can mitigate the impact.
This blog will seek to quantify the issue, and offer a path forward, by addressing these four questions.
- What is the cost of unscheduled downtime in healthcare today?
- What are the most common causes of unscheduled downtime in healthcare environments?
- What issues does a hospital disaster recovery plan typically address?
- How is the concept of downtime documentation readiness accounted for in the creation of healthcare disaster recovery plans?
1. What is the cost of unscheduled downtime in healthcare?
Unplanned system outages at hospitals are not just inconveniences — they represent a costly operational crisis. The financial impact can be measured in multiple ways: direct revenue loss, regulatory penalties, reputational damage and even patient safety risks.
What is the average cost of downtime?
According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of healthcare downtime was estimated at $7,900 per minute as of 2016. Given the increased digitization of healthcare systems in the years since, that figure has likely risen significantly. A 60-minute outage could now easily cost a hospital more than $500,000, especially when factoring in lost productivity, delayed procedures and emergency care disruptions.
What is the cost of healthcare downtime industry-wide?
While exact figures for 2025 are still emerging, the cumulative cost of unscheduled downtime across the U.S. healthcare system is estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually. This includes not only direct financial losses but also the cost of mitigating cybersecurity breaches, restoring systems and addressing compliance violations. For example, a ransomware attack that causes a multi-day unplanned system outage can result in millions in recovery costs, legal fees and patient notification efforts.
However, the average cost of downtime events is driven up by hidden costs as well. Beyond the immediate financial hit, downtime can lead to:
- HIPAA violations due to inaccessible or compromised patient data.
- Delayed treatments, which can worsen patient outcomes and increase liability.
- Loss of trust, as patients and partners question the hospital’s reliability.
In the ultra-competitive healthcare market, even a single high-profile unplanned system outage can have long-term reputational consequences.
2. What are the most common causes of unscheduled downtime in healthcare?
Understanding the root causes of downtime is essential for prevention. While some incidents are unavoidable, many are preventable with the right infrastructure, training and planning. History shows that unplanned system outages in hospitals typically result from one of (or some combination of) the following.
Network connectivity issues
Hospitals increasingly rely on cloud-based applications and remote data access. An unstable IT network can sever access to critical systems, including:
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
- Laboratory Information Systems (LIS)
- Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools
- Radiology and imaging systems
Even a brief network disruption can delay diagnoses, interrupt surgeries and prevent clinicians from accessing vital patient information.
Power failures
Power outages remain one of the most common causes of unscheduled downtime in healthcare. Hospitals depend on uninterrupted electricity to power everything from EHR systems to life-saving equipment. Without robust backup generators and failover systems, a power failure can bring hospital operations to a standstill.
Cybersecurity threats
Cyberattacks, particularly ransomware, are a growing threat to hospital IT systems. In recent years, several high-profile ransomware attacks have forced hospitals to divert patients, cancel surgeries and revert to paper healthcare documents for days or even weeks. These attacks often exploit outdated software, weak passwords or unpatched vulnerabilities. Once inside, attackers can encrypt data, demand ransoms and cripple entire networks.
Software and system failures
Bugs, failed updates and incompatible software integrations can also lead to unscheduled downtime in healthcare. Hospitals often run a complex mix of legacy systems and modern applications, which can create points of failure if not properly managed. For example, a failed EHR software update might crash the system and trigger EHR downtime, requiring hours of IT intervention to restore functionality.
Human error
Despite technological advancements, human error remains a significant contributor to unplanned system outages. Mistakes such as misconfigured servers, accidental data deletions or improper system shutdowns can trigger cascading failures, EHR downtime and more. Training and clear protocols are essential to minimize these risks, especially in high-pressure environments like emergency departments.
3. What issues does a hospital disaster recovery plan address?
Given how extensively digital systems are embedded in clinical workflows, the importance of a robust hospital disaster recovery plan (DRP) cannot be overstated. From cyberattacks and software failures to natural disasters, power outages and more, a well-structured hospital disaster preparedness plan ensures continuity of care, protects sensitive data and supports rapid recovery from unexpected events.
Such healthcare disaster recovery plans encompass both technical and operational strategies to minimize downtime, protect patient data and ensure clinical continuity. Here are the key areas typically addressed.
Identification of critical systems and data
As referenced above, hospitals rely on a variety of interconnected systems, including:
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
- Medication dispensing systems
- Laboratory and radiology systems
- Patient monitoring equipment
The hospital disaster recovery plan prioritizes these systems based on their impact on patient care. For example, EHR downtime solutions are often designated as top-priority due to their role in restoring access to vital patient information.
Recovery objectives
Two essential metrics commonly guide healthcare disaster recovery planning:
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The maximum acceptable downtime before services must be restored.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The maximum acceptable data loss measured in time (e.g., no more than one hour of data).
Hospitals often aim to restore critical systems within four hours and prevent data loss beyond the last hourly backup.
Backup and failover strategies
Robust hospital disaster preparedness plans generally include:
- Onsite backups on redundant servers
- Offsite backups using encrypted cloud storage
- Failover systems that automatically switch operations to secondary data centers during outages
These strategies ensure that even in the event of a ransomware attack or natural disaster, hospitals can quickly resume operations and maintain vital healthcare documentation processes with minimal disruption.
Crisis response protocols
A hospital disaster preparedness plan should outline step-by-step procedures for:
- Incident detection and team activation
- Communication with staff and stakeholders
- Switching to backup systems
- Restoring normal operations
For example, during a regional flood, a hospital may redirect operations to a backup site located outside the affected area, ensuring uninterrupted access to critical healthcare documents.
Testing and maintenance
Regular drills and simulations are essential to validate the hospital disaster recovery plan’s effectiveness. Hospitals typically conduct quarterly tests and update their plans annually to reflect new technologies and emerging threats.
4. What is the role of downtime documentation readiness in a healthcare disaster recovery plan?
While technical recovery is vital, downtime documentation readiness is equally critical. When EHR downtime occurs, hospitals may be forced to rely on manual processes to maintain clinical documentation and patient safety.
EHR downtime solutions
As we’ve seen, EHR downtime can result from cyberattacks, software failures or various forms of infrastructure damage. To mitigate these risks, hospitals can implement several strategies.
Downtime toolkits and protocols
Hospitals often develop downtime toolkits that include:
- Pre-printed forms and healthcare documents for manual use
- Guidelines for clinical workflows during outages
- Communication triage procedures
These resources help hospital staff sustain patient care while digital systems are unavailable. However, it’s important to note that any EHR downtime solution that relies on pre-printed documents creates the risk that obsolete, incomplete or non-standardized healthcare documents will be used.
Document automation tools for healthcare
Digital downtime documentation readiness tools are available that allow hospitals to:
- Print critical healthcare documents as needed on demand, even during outages
- Automatically enter completed forms into the EHR once the EHR downtime crisis has been resolved
Such digital EHR downtime solutions ensure that only standardized, up-to-date healthcare documents are used and that the documentation captured during downtime is seamlessly integrated into the patient’s digital health record.
Staff training and drills
Hospitals conduct EHR downtime procedure drills to prepare staff for real-world scenarios. Training includes:
- Locating and using the healthcare documents that have been made available, whether pre-printed or digital
- Documenting patient care using these downtime documentation readiness solutions
- Communicating effectively across departments
These training exercises build confidence, enhance staff performance and reduce errors during an actual downtime event.
Taylor Healthcare: Tools to help manage EHR downtime
Taylor Healthcare is a leading provider of digital technology solutions to the U.S. healthcare industry. iMedHealth is an entire suite of digital tools that have been engineered by Taylor Healthcare to enhance patient-provider communication, such as:
- iMedConsent™, a proprietary informed patient consent solution that standardizes and digitizes the informed consent process.
- iMedAutomate, our document automation technologies for clinical, administrative and departmental healthcare documents.
- iMedColorRx, a lab and pharmacy labeling system that allows color-coded labels to be printed locally, on demand, to streamline workflows and enhance patient safety.
The iMedHealth suite also includes iMedDowntime, a proprietary EHR downtime solution and downtime documentation readiness system that mitigates the risk of unplanned system outages. iMedDowntime enables hospital staff to access, create and print critical healthcare documents during EHR downtime events and other unscheduled downtime in healthcare environments.
Looking for a way to enhance your healthcare documentation processes and EHR downtime procedures? Contact your Taylor Healthcare representative to learn more about iMedDowntime and our other iMedHealth technologies.
