Update: We received a response from the Crow Representative’s office regarding funding for the provisions of the measure, and that information has been added below.
Legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives this month will direct the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Administration to work with the Health and Human Services to protect Americans’ healthcare data from unauthorized access. network attack.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
HHS data reports that healthcare facility breaches increased by 55% in 2020, with nearly 1 million patients affected monthly.
“Cyberattacks on our hospitals and medical centers are becoming increasingly common, and they are increasing the cost of our healthcare,” said Representative Jason Crow, D-Colo. , said in an announcement of the measure co-sponsored by Corporal Brian Fitzpatrick, R- Cha.
In addition to increasing the cost of healthcare delivery, the MP’s announcement said the increasing frequency of malicious attacks affects the patient health outcomes.
Invoice and it The Senate Companion, introduced in March by Senator Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., demonstrates that “cooperation and information sharing between the public and private sectors is essential to increasing capacity online resilience for health-focused entities.”
The Healthcare Cybersecurity Act would require CISA and HHS to work together by entering into an agreement to improve cybersecurity as defined by CISA.
Within a year of bicameral legislation, the federal cybersecurity agency will complete a detailed study analyzing the specific risks to healthcare assets and data, the challenges information system security in this field and the shortage of cybersecurity human resources within one year.
CISA will address healthcare cybersecurity training, recruitment and retention issues and make recommendations on how to address them, particularly in public and private sector health systems. rural, medium and small.
The law will also allow cybersecurity training for healthcare asset owners on cybersecurity risks and mitigation strategies.
IT news about healthcare contacted Crow’s Washington, DC office to inquire about funding for the proposed CISA training. Information was not available, but Crow’s office later responded by email that Senator Rosen would lead the inclusion of funding for this proposal in the Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Authorization Act. In August , the NDAA was included in the Senate legislative calendar.
Both bills have been referred to their respective committees on homeland security.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Law sponsors show a nearly threefold increase in sensitive health data breaches over the past three years.
The rise, and well-publicized events, have led to Hospital boards are pouring more money into cybersecurity to address interruptions of care and protect interoperable electronic health records and other data sources.
According to Steve Smerz, hospitals are adapting to ransomware spikes by increasing redundancy, with cloud tools, and adopting bring-your-own-device policies to enable care teams care use their device to communicate over cellular network when WiFi network is not available. , CISO at Halo Health, a clinical collaboration platform.
“In any event, whether the organization relies on shared devices, BYOD, or other mobile strategies, clinical collaboration platforms allow team members to continue communicating in real-time. to deliver and act on important information, such as stroke and sepsis warnings,” he said. IT news about healthcare A year ago.
Larger healthcare systems are also addressing cyber threats with Enhanced training to minimize the impact of data breaches.
ON PROFILE
“Forty-six million Americans suffered a breach of their health data in 2021 due to a cyber attack,” Fitzpatrick said. “The increasing number of attacks on our hospitals and medical centers must be addressed.“
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.
