More hospital CFOs are taking on cybersecurity roles as well as being advocates for the purchasing of patient privacy solutions, a Black Book survey found.
"One of the top board priorities in 2019 is cybersecurity, yet instead of adding to the CIO's plate of functional duties, security has morphed a standalone set of practices into a strategic initiative," said Doug Brown, the founder of Black Book. "As a result of the potential financial impact of data breaches, C-suites are shifting the leadership to CFOs."
Black Book surveyed 2,400 client users for its second quarter 2019 report on cybersecurity. The group also investigated 234 IT security functional category vendors.
Among the executives that responded, 77 percent shared a growing concern of readiness to respond to potential breaches as currently assigned under the CIO or chief information security officer. Eighty-eight percent said the reason for the uneasiness was due to underfunding.
Of CFO respondents, 85 percent are seeking greater compliance to proactively audit access to protected health information.
According to 92 percent of all compliance officers surveyed, the delayed administrative transition from manual auditing processes to an automated solution for monitoring patients and their records has been the most challenging aspect of their position.