The government should invest now in healthcare cybersecurity, says HSCC

Funding shortfalls and workforce shortages leave small, rural and resource-constrained healthcare providers especially vulnerable to ransomware attacks that disrupt care delivery. That’s a reality that cannot be ignored, according to a new report prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the Health Sector Coordinating Council’s Cybersecurity Working Group.

HSCC says the government and its partners must act quickly to address understaffed healthcare cyber programs by tweaking federal healthcare funding programs to cover critical cybersecurity expenditures, augmenting healthcare cybersecurity workforces and incentivizing cyber maturity. 

Its new report is based on findings from in-depth interviews with senior executives from cash-strapped healthcare organizations across 31 states, including critical access hospitals, post-acute care, federally qualified health centers and physician groups.

Read the report – On the Edge: Cybersecurity Health of America’s Resource-Constrained Health Providers Findings and Recommendations

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