A New Chapter of Business Continuity & Resilience

Challenge

During one of our recent engagements, we provided a HITRUST Readiness Review for Chapters Health System, a progressive leader in delivering innovative risk-bearing programming, hospice, palliative care, home health, durable medical equipment, and pharmacy services based in Florida. The final review identified gaps in the organization’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and revealed that its program needed immediate enhancement to uphold HITRUST requirements.

After realizing the holes in its program exposed by the readiness assessment, Chapters Health approached Wolf to engage comprehensive BCP services. Chapters Health expressed that it didn’t want a plan that would simply ‘check-the-box’ for its HITRUST certification. The organization wanted one that was going to be all-encompassing so it could adequately continue to provide critical support to patients.

As a steadily growing organization (in terms of both geographical expansion and number of services offered), Chapters Health was searching for a way to assess its preparedness, identify previously unknown risks, and address gaps in its current plan that required remediation. The organization needed to ensure it could continue serving patients in any situation. However, Chapters Health didn’t have the internal resources, bandwidth or expertise needed to create a solid BCP to achieve its goals.

Solution

This was an enterprise-wide project that took a close look at the requirements of each operational area. We first conducted a thorough Business Impact Analysis (BIA) that involved all facets of the organization to understand each area’s functions and what resources supported those functions. Understanding and documenting these requirements helped Chapters Health analyze backup and recovery strategies for responding to operational interruptions.

Gaps in business continuity capabilities were identified and solutions were assessed to remediate those vulnerabilities. The process also provided a better understanding of requirements necessary to ensuring patient care was prioritized while maintaining regulatory compliance.

“We were extremely confident in Wolf’s ability to build a successful Business Continuity Plan that not only allowed us to comply with HITRUST requirements and HIPAA regulations, but also properly secure and prepare our business for any risks as we continued to grow and provide quality care to our patients,” said Mike Parkin, Director of IT Security for Chapters Health. “I was thoroughly impressed with the knowledge and expertise brought to this endeavor, and now have a high level of assurance that our business is prepared for any threats on the horizon.”

Result

Using proven methodology, Wolf was able to develop an enterprise-wide BCP that satisfied HITRUST security standards and increased preparedness throughout the organization. Combining vast experience and best practices, Wolf looked at the Chapters Health organization as a whole, identified previously unknown threats, and built a BCP tailored to its evolving needs.

“If we hadn’t engaged Wolf, we may not have been aware of some of the gaps in our strategy,” said Parkin. “I can now rest assured that there’s action being taken to mitigate these risks, and that we can rely on our new solid Business Continuity Plan to enhance our resiliency.”

Chapters Health now has a comprehensive plan for continuing operations in the case of a disaster or disruption.

Takeaway

• A scalable and flexible process allows resiliency in an ever-changing environment
• Thorough analysis exposes inherent gaps and risks to strengthen preparation strategies
• Tried-and-true methodology, industry expertise, and tailored solutions ensures more than just a checkbox BCP