Maintaining Existence amidst a "Digital Blackout" Situation

On September 24, 2025, a webinar titled "The Role of IT and Engineering in Safeguarding Patient Care during an Emergency" will take place. This educational event is a collaboration between ECRI, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving patient safety, and Prisma Health, a renowned healthcare system.

The webinar will be moderated by Rob Schluth, a Principal Project Officer I at ECRI, who has been with the organisation for 30 years. Rob manages the development of the organisation's annual Top 10 Health Technology Hazards report and is involved in special initiatives for the device evaluation & safety team.

The webinar will feature experts from Prisma Health's Technical Services team, including Daniel Leonard, Vice President of Technical Services at Prisma Health. Daniel Leonard will share insights from Prisma Health's experiences during Hurricane Helene and the infrastructure improvement project that enabled the organisation to withstand the crisis.

The webinar will discuss the strains that can be placed on infrastructure by organisational expansion through mergers and acquisitions. It will provide key strategies for safeguarding patient care in the event of a catastrophic outage, emphasising the importance of viewing business continuity and disaster recovery plans as mission critical.

Rob Schluth has contributed to hundreds of device evaluations, problem reports, and guidance articles at ECRI over the course of 30 years. The webinar aims to provide a deeper understanding of the role of IT and engineering professionals in building and maintaining technology infrastructure that supports patient care.

The webinar will be of great interest to healthcare organisations, IT professionals, and anyone concerned with patient safety. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from the experiences of Prisma Health and the expertise of Rob Schluth and Daniel Leonard.