Bipartisan Senate bill advances more robust healthcare cybersecurity

Increasing cybersecurity threats against the U.S. healthcare sector have prompted Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee members Bill Cassidy, R-La., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Mark Warner, D-Va., to introduce new legislation that would bolster not only the industry’s cybersecurity defenses but also healthcare data protections, reports CyberScoop.

Aside from advancing better communications between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Health Care Cybersecurity and Resiliency Act of 2024 would also mandate the HHS to coordinate with CISA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Office of Management and Budget in establishing and implementing a cyber incident response plan, as well as support healthcare providers’ efforts to bolster their attack prevention and response mechanisms. “This commonsense legislation would modernize our health care institutions’ cybersecurity practices, increase agency coordination, and provide tools for rural providers to prevent and respond to cyberattacks,” said Cornyn.