In this two-part Triage series, Gina Bertolini, Sarah Carlins, and Jianne McDonald analyze two recent HHS initiatives that address cybersecurity risks to hospitals and health systems nationwide. Cybersecurity events involving our nation’s health care providers have precipitously risen in the past five years. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reports a nearly 300% increase in large data breaches that involve ransomware reported to OCR from 2018 to 2022. Interoperability remains a major government priority, and as remote care models continue to proliferate and the need intensifies for big data to feed increasingly complex technologies, risks to health care providers will continue to abound.  

In part one of this series, Sarah Carlins and Jianne McDonald discuss recent OCR recommendations for healthcare providers and patients on cybersecurity measures when providing and receiving care via telehealth. They also discuss the federal government’s view that effective communication regarding the privacy and security of electronic health information is an important component of quality care in the telehealth setting.