On April 1, the Health Information Trust Alliance led HHS and several healthcare industry stakeholders in the first of a series of simulated cyberattacks to gauge the industry's response and threat preparedness against online threats.
The exercise revealed three key findings, according to a report from Booz Allen Hamilton, which oversaw the drill.
- The more robust an organization's intelligence processing capabilities and engagement with stakeholders is, the better prepared it will be to respond to a cyberattack. The drill emphasized cyberattacks are much more than an IT issue and affect legal/privacy, crisis management, business/clinical operations, management and external business partners.
- Participating in the drill improved organizations' readiness, regardless of the maturity and comprehensiveness of their respective information security program.
- The organizations wanted more flexibility in legal restrictions regarding communicating and collaborating with other stakeholders during a cyberattack. Participating organizations also had varied opinions on how best to engage law enforcement.
Participating organizations included: athenahealth, Children's Medical Center of Dallas, Cooper Health in Camden, N.J., CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, Health Care Services, Highmark, Humana, United Health Group, HHS and WellPoint.
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