When the internet goes down in a modern care facility, the impact goes well beyond email. A cloud-based EHR becomes unreachable. VoIP phones stop working. eFax, pharmacy ordering, telehealth visits and even some door and camera systems are affected. For facilities that rely on cloud services, a single internet connection is a single point of failure for patient care.
A second connection is one of the most direct ways to reduce that risk. Here is how to decide whether you need one and how to buy it well.
List the services that stop when the internet fails:
Your EHR or EMR, if hosted or cloud-based.
Phones, if VoIP or cloud-hosted.
eFax and e-prescribing.
Email and cloud file storage.
Remote monitoring, telehealth and video visits.
Cameras, access control and nurse call integrations with cloud components.
Online access to labs, pharmacy and payer portals.
Then estimate the impact of losing all of them for one hour, four hours and a full day. If a four-hour outage would affect medication documentation or admissions, redundancy deserves serious thought.
Two connections only help if they fail independently. Ask these questions:
Different providers? Two services from the same company often share the same network upstream.
Different physical paths? Two fiber lines from the same pole or trench can both be cut by one backhoe.
Different technology? A wired primary with a cellular or fixed wireless backup avoids shared infrastructure.
Different entrance to the building? If both lines enter the same closet and share the same power, they share risks.
Good performance and often reasonable cost, where available. Confirm that the provider's route differs from your primary.
Useful in rural areas where wired choices are limited. Performance varies with line of sight and weather.
A cellular modem connected to a failover-capable router is relatively quick to deploy and independent of local wired infrastructure. Speeds and data plans differ, so confirm that capacity is enough for essential services, even if not for everything.
An option in remote areas where nothing else is available, though latency can be a challenge for phone calls and some applications.
A second line does not help if nothing switches to it. You need:
A firewall or router that supports automatic failover or load balancing.
Configuration that tests the connection health, not just whether the cable is plugged in.
Phone systems and VPNs configured to reconnect over the backup path.
Power protection, so network gear stays up during short outages, with a generator or battery plan for longer ones.
Remember that some inbound services, such as VPN endpoints or hosted equipment tied to a specific IP address, may need special configuration for the backup line.
Backup connections are often slower. Decide which traffic gets priority: the EHR, phones and eFax first, with streaming and resident Wi-Fi limited or suspended. Quality of service rules can enforce this.
What is the uptime commitment, and what remedy do you offer if it is missed?
What is the repair time commitment, and is there a priority for healthcare customers?
How are outages reported and communicated?
Is the route physically diverse from our other provider?
What are the contract term and early termination costs?
Be careful about advertised speeds. Ask about upload as well as download, since phone and cloud applications depend on both.
Once installed, test failover by unplugging the primary connection during a planned window. Many facilities discover that phones, VPNs or cameras did not recover correctly. Test again after major changes and write the results down for your contingency plan.
The HIPAA Security Rule's contingency plan standards call for emergency mode operations and disaster recovery procedures. Include the loss of internet in your downtime procedures, along with the steps for switching to the backup and for working on paper if both fail.
UnityCare IT helps healthcare facilities evaluate providers, design redundant connections and test failover under real conditions. If you are not sure what would stop working in your building during an outage, we can help you map it.
Call or text: 405-285-3845
New customers: start@unitycareit.com
Existing customers: support@unitycareit.com
Address: 2524 N Broadway Ste 554 PMB 947974, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034