Despite the fact that data backups should be performed daily, there’s only a marginal number of people who do! In this article, I will provide you with 10 irrefutable reasons for why you need to back up your data daily:

 

1) Beware of the audit

 

If, for any reason, your clinic is audited, you’ll be asked to reproduce certain documents, such as invoices and clinical notes, that validate your claims. In the event that you’re unable to reproduce those documents, there will be penalties to face.

 

By performing daily data backups, you’re guaranteeing that you won’t be left scurrying around and trying to place those documents at the 11^th hour.

 

2) Theft, fire, and natural disasters  

Certain things, like theft, fire, and natural disasters, simply cannot be foreseen. And while these

occurrences are unavoidable, you can still take measure to defend yourself against them. Naturally, one of these measures involves backing up your data.

 

By performing daily data backups, you’re ensuring that come hell or high water, your data is safe.

 

3) Computer crashes

 

Why is it that computer crashes always seem to happen at the most inconvenient times? Don’t be caught off guard when your computer decides that it wants to shut down on you.

 

By performing daily data backups, you’re ensuring that computer crashes don’t bring your business to a grinding halt.

 

4) Power outages

 

I can’t count how many times I’ve slept through a power outage only to have the alarm on my clock radio reset, and wake up much later than I should have. That’s just a mild example of what can go wrong during a power outage—so you can imagine all of the things that can happen when your computer experiences an unexpected power outage.

 

By performing daily data backups, you can minimize the damage caused by power outages by securely storing your data backups beyond harm’s reach.

 

5) Simple recovery

 

It is possible to recover your data without performing a data backup—it’s just a lot harder. There are many services that specialize in data recovery but the costs can be quite high. Instead, we recommend looking into an automated data backup service such as Mozy, or taking it upon yourself to backup your database on a flash drive.

 

By performing daily data backups, you ensure that all future data recoveries are as simple as can be.

 

Click here to learn more about how to backup your Practice Perfect database.

 

6) Avoid downtime

 

There are many situations that businesses must avoid at all costs—downtime is one of those situations. Imagine a patient coming in to see you and not being able to enter charges, clinical notes, or process payments because your system isn’t operational.

 

By performing daily data backups, you can reduce the risk of downtime by ensuring that your database can quickly be recovered on a moment’s notice.

 

7) Don’t worry about double-entry

 

There have been times where I’ve been working on a document for hours only to have it randomly close because of an unknown error. I’d typically cross my fingers and hope that Microsoft’s Autosave function was working properly. But when it wasn’t, I was obligated to re-enter all of that information.

 

When it comes to Practice Perfect, you need to take the additional step of backing up the database on your main server computer to ensure that you won’t have anything to worry about when your computer starts acting up.

 

8) Accidents happen

 

Human error has, and always will be, something that we need to cope with in the workplace. We simply can’t account for all of the things that can, and will, go wrong. But, we can mitigate the damage done some of these issues by taking the proper precautions.

 

By performing daily data backups, you’re ensuring that you’ll be able to easily remedy issues if anything was mistakenly lost, deleted, etc.

 

9) Peace of mind

 

The true value of peace of mind cannot be understated. While life in the rehabilitation field often resembles a juggling act, things like your data shouldn’t be up in the air.

 

By assigning a staff member to perform daily data backups, you can rest easy knowing that your valuable information is safe and sound.

 

10) It’s your data!

 

Unlike many web-based EMR solutions, Practice Perfect is locally installed on your computer. This means that all of the data that you enter on your computer remains on your computer. But—this also means that it’s your responsibility to take care of that data!

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