When the Screens Go Dark, Care Must Go On

Event Schedule by Time Zone: 
Pacific: 10 AM to 11 AM | Mountain: 11 AM to 12 PM | Central: 12 PM to 1 PM | Eastern: 1 PM to 2 PM

When every computer in a healthcare facility suddenly goes dark, staff must understand how to safely continue operations. Yet many clinicians have little experience with paper-based workflows, which can make them uncomfortable and unfamiliar with "old school" processes. This lack of preparedness creates a number of opportunities for error that can compromise patient safety, burden staff, and disrupt administrative functions during downtime.

Every day, cybersecurity threats to healthcare continue to risk, with attacks up more than 33% in the last five years. Per the AHA [2025] "since 2020, more than 500 million people have had health records stolen or exposed," highlighting the impact of system outages on organizational operations and reputation due to cyber events.

This webinar will discuss the impact of downtime and provide practical strategies and tools on how to respond to unplanned downtime to avoid common breakdowns and reduce risks when organizations must quickly revert to paper-based operations.

Participants will also review and take home a customizable "downtime-to-go" packet designed to support preparedness with unexpected downtime in any healthcare setting. By planning ahead and anticipating downtime, organizations increase their chances of successful continuity of care and operations and minimize the risks of system failure and errors.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe situations that may result in computer system downtime
2. Identify risks with utilizing downtime procedures for clinical care
3. Review a response procedure for rapid execution of downtime processes to ensure clinical care safety and continuity

Speaker:

Anne Huben-Kearney, BSN, MPA, DFASHRM, CPHRM, CPHQ, CPPS, is an independent consultant specializing in enterprise risk management and patient safety, providing consultation for health care providers, including psychiatry and psychology professionals, as well as health care organizations, especially medical office practice, ambulatory care and organ procurement organizations. She has extensive clinical, administrative and medical professional liability insurance experience and expertise. She is the Faculty Lead for the ASHRM Patient Safety Certificate Program, was elected to the ASHRM Advisory Board for 2020-2022, serves on the 2025-2026 ASHRM Nominating Committee and is the 2026 President for the Massachusetts Society of Healthcare Risk Management (MSHRM). Among other publications, Anne co-authored the ASHRM/AHA 3-part White Paper series on Recognizing and Managing Bias in healthcare, was editor of the ASHRM Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Playbook, and is a contributing author to the ASHRM Medical Office Risk Management Playbook. Anne earned a B.S.N. degree, magna cum laude, from College Misericordia (now Misericordia University) and an M.P.A. degree with a concentration in health care management from the University of New Haven.

Member: FREE
Non-Member: FREE