Behavioral Health Integrator

In this HITEQ Highlight, we aim to strengthen Health Centers' capacity to build their cyber-resiliency. We will cover risk management tools, methods for guarding against cybersecurity assaults, operationalizing cybersecurity to mitigate risks, and breach mitigation tactics. Participants will focus on safeguarding data across the entire enterprise and examine approaches to implementing cybersecurity infrastructure through risk management frameworks and strategic risk assessment. This session includes a case study of the Family Health Center of Worcester's Ransomware Incident presented by CEO Louis Brady.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches, and the risk continues to grow as health centers use new tools and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. 

To support health centers in their cybersecurity strategy and implementation, the HITEQ Center offered a free learning collaborative -- Improving Health Center Cybersecurity: Risk Assessment, Breach Defense, Mitigation, and Response. This learning collaborative involved four structured virtual learning sessions. During the series participants engaged with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics included: health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, cybersecurity implications of generative artificial intelligence in health centers, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

Session 4: Cybersecurity Incident Response Planning for Health Centers

According to IBM's annual Cost of Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach for a healthcare organization is more than $10 million. Having a well-documented cybersecurity incident response plan is essential and required for all Health Centers due to the sensitivity of the patient data they are responsible for maintaining. The cost and damage caused by a data breach is often exorbitant, but a strategic incident plan can help to significantly mitigate such effects, and potentially, prevent them from occurring in the first place. This session will provide an overview of incident response planning requirements for health centers and review established workflows for common incident response scenarios such as ransomware attacks.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches, and the risk continues to grow as health centers use new tools and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. 

To support health centers in their cybersecurity strategy and implementation, the HITEQ Center is offering a free learning collaborative -- Improving Health Center Cybersecurity: Risk Assessment, Breach Defense, Mitigation, and Response. This learning collaborative will involve four structured virtual learning sessions. During the series participants engaged with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics included: health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, cybersecurity implications of generative artificial intelligence in health centers, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

Session 3: Cybersecurity Implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Health Centers

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Bard) has exploded in 2023, catapulting new forms of rapid processing of text, audio, visual data (i.e., large language models and machine learning) to the forefront including in healthcare. The rapid rise forces health centers to grapple with what possibilities AI has to offer and it’s many potential risks. Both in terms of provision of care as well as in management of IT and related services. As these new tools are introduced and integrated to address acute and future needs, it becomes critically important to ensure that patients' data remains secure. This session will discuss recommendations and strategies for assessing risk and improving cybersecurity policies and procedures in relation to AI and it’s attendant technologies.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches, and the risk continues to grow as health centers use new tools and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. 

To support health centers in their cybersecurity strategy and implementation, the HITEQ Center is offering a free learning collaborative -- Improving Health Center Cybersecurity: Risk Assessment, Breach Defense, Mitigation, and Response. This learning collaborative will involve four structured virtual learning sessions. During the series participants will engage with subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Topics will include: health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, cybersecurity implications of generative artificial intelligence in health centers, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

Session 2: Health Center Hacking Combat and Breach Response Strategies for Awareness, Management, and Training

In this session, we discussed breach mitigation, ways in which to operationalize cybersecurity in order to better mitigate risks, reviewed risk management tools, and methods for defending against cybersecurity attacks. Breach can occur through both internal and external network leaks, through malware such as ransomware and through physical means on site. We covered topics related to general knowledge about breach mitigation, methods for mitigating against breach incidences, and addressing gaps in health center defenses.