On Wednesday, July 9, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions conducted a hearing on cybersecurity, focusing on protecting Americans' privacy and securing sensitive healthcare data. The discussion led to some heated comments in the Senate regarding the new budget bill.
Greg Garcia, Executive Director for Cybersecurity of the Healthcare Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC), provided testimony to the panel. Hospitals are turning patients away, Garcia said, because their systems are down and patients' records are unavailable. This is especially a problem for smaller rural hospitals. Garcia called for the reinstatement of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA), which is set to expire in September.
René Quashie, VP of Digital Health at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) stated that innovation doesn’t matter much if people don’t trust that their health data is protected. “Patients will not adopt tools they don’t trust, and providers will not recommend tools they believe put patients at risk.” “Our current privacy framework is outdated and incomplete,” Quashie cautioned.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) seized the opportunity to state that cybersecurity is not at the forefront of people’s minds at the moment; instead, he said, the cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are issues that people worry about. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) reiterated Senator Sanders’ sentiment, saying that the larger threat to hospitals and the health of people is the healthcare cuts, which are part of the reconciliation bill President Trump signed into law last week.
About the Author
Pietje Kobus
Pietje Kobus has an international background and experience in content management and editing. She studied journalism in the Netherlands and Communications and Creative Nonfiction in the U.S. Pietje joined Healthcare Innovation in January 2024.