With the aim to help address a cybersecurity workforce shortage issue in healthcare, The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin has announced a Leadership in Health Care Privacy and Security Risk Management certificate program, which university officials say is a first-in-the-nation professional program.
The program is designed to develop leaders who can manage risk in American healthcare systems, protecting them from fast-evolving cybersecurity threats. There are currently 350,000 unfilled cybersecurity job openings in the U.S., officials noted. Some estimates note that the cybersecurity workforce gap will hit 1.8 million globally by 2022.
Endorsed by the Texas Hospital Association, and by CynergisTek and Clearwater Compliance, two firms in the healthcare cybersecurity, privacy and compliance space, the program brings together industry leaders as teachers and case facilitators.
The co-directors of the program will be Sri Bharadwaj, chief information security officer (CISO) at UC Irvine Health in Orange County, Calif., and Leanne Field, clinical professor and director for digital healthcare innovation at UT Austin.
The eight- week program graduated a pilot class of 16 participants in August 2019. Students ranged in age from their early 20s to their late 50s and included working professionals from cybersecurity, information technology, and clinical fields, as well as military veterans and recent college graduates.
“Graduates of the certificate program can expect starting salaries of $75,000 at a minimum,” said Field. Graduates of the program also receive a professional certificate and are able to implement their knowledge in their current jobs or in new positions. McCombs plans to offer the program again in spring 2020.
“The number of data breaches is rapidly increasing across the globe and cybersecurity threats have a major impact on patient safety in healthcare organization,” said Bharadwaj. Field added, “We are excited to offer this program to give students knowledge, leadership skills, and problem-solving competencies to protect patients from the irreparable harm that comes from the relentless cyber-attacks on healthcare organizations.”
“Attracting and retaining cybersecurity talent is a major challenge in all industry sectors,” said Greg Garcia, executive director of cybersecurity for the Health Care and Public Sector Coordinating Council, and former assistant secretary for cybersecurity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “This program is the kind of initiative that will develop a pipeline of cybersecurity leaders who will leverage their knowledge and capabilities to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of our nation’s healthcare systems.”
