This article was originally published on Becker's Healthcare.
Ransomware attacks are a pervasive threat to healthcare organizations, disrupting operations, compromising patient data, and crippling revenue streams. The consequences of a successful attack can be devastating, ranging from delayed patient care and canceled surgeries to hefty fines for non-compliance with regulations like HIPAA and HITECH.
These staggering statistics show the gravity of this issue for patients, clinicians, and providers:
- In 2024, 181 confirmed ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations impacted 25.6 million records.
- The average ransom demand was $5.7 million, and the average ransom paid was $900,000.
- On average, U.S. healthcare organizations lose $1.9 million per day to downtime from ransomware events.
As hospital and health system leaders expand their digitization efforts, reliable, secure solutions that protect electronic health record (EHR) infrastructure are essential. Cloud-based isolated recovery environments (IREs) provide a layer of defense against ransomware attacks, strengthening patient safety, establishing business continuity, and mitigating financial risks.
Patient care and business continuity: the power of isolated recovery
At the 2024 Epic User Group Meeting, Epic strongly recommended the best practice of implementing an IRE to combat ransomware attacks and guarantee business continuity. IREs are secure cloud-based networks separate from an organization’s primary production environment. IRE solutions allow healthcare facilities to back up and rapidly restore critical data and systems amid outages. Implementing an IRE is not a migration; it’s creating a new, air-gapped environment that delivers new value. Some of the top IRE benefits include:
- Ability to continue patient care and operations during a ransomware event with speedy, protected access to a real-time replica of your Epic EHR environment
- Satisfying “emergency preparedness” requirements in minutes instead of days
- Avoiding revenue loss during ransomware events
- Minimizing business risk, which can help decrease cyber insurance premiums
- More current recovery points, using protected backups for recovery
- Potential to use IRE as an alternate production space if you can’t recover your compromised environment
Fast and cost-effective IRE implementation
Conversations around health IT implementations often raise concerns about cost and deployment time. Fortunately, IREs are budget-friendly solutions (averaging $10,000 to $20,000 a month) offering fast speed to value (many deployments go from zero to go-live in eight to 10 weeks). With native technology advancements from the cloud and necessary technical guardrails, healthcare organizations can maintain and manage IREs with less effort and avoid unplanned overheads. This is one of the differentiating capabilities and technology innovations that IT leaders can capitalize on to bring the best modern solutions to their organizations.
Selecting the right cloud vendor and IRE implementation partner
Choosing the right cloud vendor for IRE hosting can make or break your success. When exploring cloud provider options, decision-makers should consider factors like performance, compliance, reliability, and scalability. Research from respected third-party companies can provide you with real-world feedback from thousands of healthcare professionals. For example, Amazon Web Services won the 2025 Best in KLAS recognition for public cloud and a 2024 Customers’ Choice distinction in strategic cloud platform services from Gartner Peer Insights.
A healthcare-focused strategic partner, like Nordic Global, that has extensive Epic implementation and end-to-end enterprise cloud experience, can guide your hospital or health system through every step of the IRE process, implementing the architecture and collaborating closely with your team to ensure they have the skills to manage and operate your IRE long-term.
Bottom line: bolster your ransomware recovery plan with an IRE
For most healthcare organizations, ransomware isn't a matter of if but when. Ensuring you always have access to your data and Epic systems is vital to patient safety, business continuity, and financial well-being. As Epic has emphasized, cloud-based IREs are a best practice for modern healthcare providers. With a top-rated cloud vendor and trusted strategic partner, you can fortify your clinical and operational resilience and prepare for whatever tomorrow may bring.
Don’t navigate the complexities of ransomware recovery alone. Visit our resource page for actionable insights and an AWS IRE offer to help you implement an isolated recovery environment.