Clarissa Ensley
Instructor: Shaun L. Gray
CIS 359: Disaster Recovery Management
July 13, 2014
Business continuity planning and disaster recovery capability will become compulsory for all healthcare business for the first time in the United States healthcare industry. The health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) that was passed by the United States congress in 1996 has a part of its phased implementation "Security Guidelines," which refers to information security. This section dictates that all healthcare organizations who use healthcare data must meet the terms of business continuity and data security standards within two years. The final guideline on this subject was published late 2000 in the federal register. The implementation of the said security guidelines in business continuity requirement is expected from as early as 2001. The strategic goal of this legislative mandate is to reduce the cost in the healthcare area by standardizing data processing. This has been done as an introduction to founding a centralized clearing-house for processing claims, almost the same as the financial industry. Business continuity management is important for healthcare organizations since they could be in situations where their normal operations have been compromised concurrently with an increase in the community’s demand for their services. Currently, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations visits the healthcare providers in the United States in approximately three years. After visiting the healthcare facilities, they then grade the entire environment of care. It is not a must for a healthcare organization to submit to the inspection .moreover, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations does not have enforcement power and also does not consider business recovery during the inspection (Burtles, 2007).