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KPCS Consulting Case Study

Disaster Recovery Modernization for Stars Behavioral Health Group

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Stars Behavioral Health Group (SBHG) partnered with KPCS Consulting to transform the resilience of their EMR Reporting system. The project focused on automating disaster recovery processes using Microsoft Azure, which eliminated manual recovery steps and ensured consistent, reliable system restoration. As a result, SBHG now benefits from improved operational continuity, greater audit and compliance readiness, and enhanced user satisfaction across all program sites. This modernization has strengthened the organization’s ability to deliver uninterrupted behavioral health services and respond confidently to future challenges.

KEY DELIVERED OUTCOMES:

  • 70% faster

    Average recovery time reduced from up to 8 hours to 1.5–3 hours

  • IT effort cut in half

    from 12 hours/year (manual) to 6 hours/year (automated)

  • validated quarterly

    Compliance readiness validated quarter

  • readiness validated

    Improved reliability and user satisfaction across all program sites

1.Client Overview

Stars Behavioral Health Group (SBHG) is a leading provider of mental health and social services, offering a full continuum of community- and facility-based behavioral health programs, special education, and support services since 1988.

  • With over 1,200 employees

  • serving 40,000 clients annually

  • across 60 program sites in California.

2. Business Challenge

SBHG’s EMR Reporting system faced frequent downtime and slow manual recovery processes, with recovery times reaching up to 8 hours. This caused reporting delays, operational risks, and compliance exposure. The organization needed to modernize its disaster recovery (DR) to ensure resilience, faster recovery, and compliance readiness.

3. Objectives

  • Reduce EMR reporting downtime from up to 8 hours to under 3 hours

  • Automate disaster recovery and reduce IT effort

  • Establish documented recovery procedures and quarterly tests.

  • Ensure audit readiness and HIPAA compliance.

4. Solution Delivered

KPCS Consulting designed and implemented a cloud-based DR solution using Microsoft Azure technologies, including Azure Site Recovery (ASR), Azure Backup, FortiGate Firewall, Power BI Gateway, and VPN connections to Netsmart Cloud. The engagement followed a three-phase approach:
  • Phase 1

    Assessment & Design: Conducted environment and risk analysis, mapped dependencies, and defined RTO/RPO targets.

  • Phase 2

    Implementation: Configured VM replication to a secondary Azure region (West Central US), implemented ASR recovery plans.

  • Phase 3

    Validation & Training: Performed failover simulations, validated results, and trained IT staff.

5. Results & Business Outcomes

Metric Before After
Average Recovery Time
Up to 8 hours
1.5–3 hours
IT Effort
Manual, 12 hours/year
Automated, 6 hours/year
Compliance Readiness
Unverified
Validated quarterly
User Satisfaction
Impacted by outages
Improved reliability

By modernizing Disaster Recovery with Microsoft Azure, SBHG achieved a 70% reduction in recovery time, bringing critical EMR reporting back online in as little as 1.5–3 hours instead of eight.
Automated recovery eliminated manual steps, reduced IT effort by half, and ensured consistent, error-free failovers. Quarterly validation of recovery procedures has strengthened compliance
posture and audit readiness, while improved reliability has enhanced user satisfaction and
operational confidence across all program sites.

6. Key Delivered Outcomes

  • 70% faster recovery of EMR reporting

  • 50% reduction in IT effort

  • Quarterly validated compliance and audit readiness

  • Improved operational continuity and staff productivity

7. Validation

  • Validated by: Client CIO and IT Operations Team

  • Prepared by: KPCS Consulting Cloud & Security Practice

  • Duration: 9 weeks (Design, Implementation, and Testing)

  • Year: 2025

  • Client Contact for Approval: Jan Koran

8. Next Steps & Contact

KPCS helps global enterprises modernize their IT infrastructure through secure and cost-efficient cloud migration strategies that improve performance, compliance, and operational resilience.

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Get the Full Case Study

Download the Case Study (PDF)

Prefer a printable version or need to share the case study internally? Download the PDF version here.

Download PDF