Boosting Data Security & Cyber Resilience in Federal Health IT

All the elements of the U.S. healthcare system are under siege by hackers. A recent article in Modern Healthcare reported that “[o]ver the past five years, there’s been a 256% increase in large breaches reported to [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] involving hacking and a 264% increase in ransomware.”

Federal health agencies face the same risks – and private-sector attacks ripple through the agencies, as well. For instance, the ransomware attack on Change Healthcare affected hundreds of thousands of medical practices that were unable to submit claims or collect payments, including reimbursements for Medicare- and Medicaid-covered treatments. This “cyberattack … paralyzed much of the US healthcare system. It’s likely to be the largest breach the sector has ever faced, disrupting billions in payments to doctors and hospitals, and potentially exposing the personal data of one-in-three Americans,” Modern Healthcare reported.

Learning Objectives:

• Review the flow of data throughout the healthcare sector and identify what is at risk at each step
• Outline the most frequent problems caused by a cyber attack, during the attack and in its aftermath
• Delineate the most common preparations agencies should put in place to mitigate risk and ameliorate the effects of a cyber attack