3 reasons health care managers need to make backup a priority

Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals have a lot on their plates, from managing patient needs to ensuring that files are handled correctly. Every day, they rely on electronic health records, diagnostic images, lab results, billing systems, and countless other applications that must be accurate and available at all times.

If any of this data is lost, corrupted, or even temporarily unavailable, the impact can be immediate—delayed treatments, interrupted workflows, frustrated patients, and potential compliance violations.

Yet one area many organizations still overlook is backup. A well-designed backup strategy is more than copying files; it’s a core part of protecting patient safety, maintaining regulatory compliance, and keeping clinical and administrative operations running smoothly.

Automated, scheduled backups help ensure that critical systems and PHI are consistently protected, while secure local and cloud copies make it possible to recover quickly from hardware failures, user errors, or cyber incidents.

Effective backup programs give healthcare organizations real peace of mind. With reliable backup and restore processes in place, care teams and IT staff can focus on patient outcomes instead of worrying about data loss. When something does go wrong—whether it’s a failed server, a ransomware attack, or accidental deletion—a trusted backup solution allows healthcare professionals to restore access to vital information quickly and confidently, minimizing downtime and disruption to patient care.

Why Backup is Critical for Healthcare

Here are three major reasons why healthcare managers should make backup a priority now instead of later:

1. The regulations demand it

For any healthcare institution, the first reason should be obvious. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), there are strict guidelines regarding how patient data must be managed, protected, and recovered in the event of an incident.

These rules go into specifics for what is required of backup services, including how often backups should occur, how they must be secured, how long records must be retained, and what files in particular—such as electronic health records, imaging data, and billing information—must be preserved and recoverable.

HIPAA regulations state requirements for backup strategies.

HIPAA’s Security Rule explicitly calls for a formal data backup plan, a disaster recovery plan, and an emergency mode operation plan. That means covered entities and business associates need documented, tested procedures to restore any loss of electronic protected health information (ePHI), whether the disruption is caused by user error, hardware failure, natural disaster, or a cyberattack like ransomware.

Backups must also be encrypted, access-controlled, and stored in a way that supports both day-to-day operations and long-term compliance audits.

According to the Department of Health & Human Services, if an organization fails to comply with these standards, it may be dealt fines as high as $1.5 million per violation, along with possible corrective action plans and long-term oversight. This is a high price to pay for any business, especially when you consider the additional costs of downtime, reputational damage, and potential legal exposure.

That’s why having a modern, well-documented backup strategy—covering both local and cloud copies of critical systems—is not just a best practice but a regulatory necessity for avoiding these possible consequences.

2. It provides peace of mind

Backup solutions should be a symbol of support during times of chaos. With a capable backup strategy, healthcare organizations can have peace of mind that their files are kept securely and can be restored quickly as needed. This includes everything from electronic health records and imaging systems to practice management and billing data—systems that clinicians and staff depend on every minute of the day.

A modern backup solution doesn’t just copy data; it continuously safeguards it with encryption, role-based access controls, and automated verification so IT teams know that what’s been backed up can actually be restored.

TechTarget offers 7 critical steps to keep your data safe, including routinely testing restores, following the 3-2-1 rule (three copies of data, on two different media, with one offsite), and protecting backups from tampering or ransomware encryption.

In addition to futureproofing, backups must facilitate retention, be simple to use, and help maintain compliance efforts. For healthcare environments, this means being able to retain PHI for the appropriate period, quickly locate and restore specific records for audits or legal requests, and demonstrate that data protection controls meet HIPAA and other regulatory expectations. Intuitive management tools and clear reporting reduce the burden on already stretched IT teams and make it easier to standardize protection across multiple departments, clinics, or locations.

With all of these characteristics, a solid backup solution will take a load of pressure off healthcare professionals and their IT resources. Care teams can stay focused on patients instead of worrying about whether a server failure, accidental deletion, or cyber incident will compromise critical information.

When staff know that there is a reliable, well-managed safety net in place, day-to-day operations run more smoothly, decisions are made with greater confidence, and organizations are better prepared for whatever comes next.

3. Cyberattacks are on the rise

No matter how large or small an organization you are, malicious parties are looking to take your data. Personally identifiable patient information can lead to lucrative paydays for any hacker, and today’s breach tactics are becoming significantly more sophisticated—combining social engineering, credential theft, and advanced malware to quietly move through networks and target backups as well as production systems.

A recent Vormetric report found that about 66 percent of healthcare IT leaders have experienced a breach; as many as 20 percent had one within the past year, MSPMentor reported. Other industry studies continue to show similar trends: healthcare remains one of the most frequently targeted sectors because of the long-term value of PHI on the black market and the high pressure on providers to restore access quickly.

The issue here is that many healthcare organizations are focusing solely on compliance requirements and not enough on how robust, well-architected backups can help achieve these goals while also keeping sensitive data protected and recoverable.

The fact is, healthcare organizations are not safe from digital threats. They must take proactive steps to ensure their files are recoverable, even if primary systems are encrypted, corrupted, or taken offline.

Since 2015, there has been a staggering increase in cyberattacks on healthcare facilities, with tactics ranging from ransomware to simple phishing emails. In more recent incidents, attackers have increasingly targeted not just production systems, but also online backup repositories and network-attached storage, attempting to delete or encrypt recovery points before demanding payment.

For instances of ransomware in particular, any business that doesn’t have a reliable, isolated backup risks losing its essential documents and is often forced to pay digital currency to unlock its files—without any guarantee that data will actually be restored.

Avoid Healthcare Data Loss

Your healthcare organization can avoid these situations by having a comprehensive backup solution that includes immutable backup copies, off-site or cloud-based protection, and clearly defined recovery procedures.

This ensures that no matter what happens to your hardware or primary environment, you always have a clean backup to restore from and a partner to turn to that will help get you back on track without needing to meet hacker demands.

By integrating backup into your broader cybersecurity and incident response strategy, you turn ransomware and other cyber threats from business-ending events into manageable disruptions. Regularly tested restores, documented recovery time objectives (RTOs), and well-organized backup policies enable healthcare teams to bring critical systems back online quickly, reduce downtime, and maintain patient trust—even in the face of increasingly aggressive cyberattacks.