Question

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS THOROUGHLY PLEASE

What is cybersecurity in healthcare? What is the rationale and significance of this issue? Include any pertinent statistical figures or data surrounding cybersecurity in healthcare.

Address implications that are felt because of cybersecurity in healthcare. What are the overall implications for patients, providers (both clinical and managerial), and other stakeholders?

Answer 1

Cybersecurity in healthcare involves the protecting of electronic information and assets from unauthorised access , use and disclosure. There are three goals of cybersecurity: protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information, also known as the CIA triad.

Rationale and significance :

Health care organisations continually face evolving cyber threats that can put patient safety at risk. That's why it should not be seen as techical issue falling under the domain of IT department. Rather , it's critical to view cybersecurity as a patient safety , enterprise risk and strategic priority and instill it into the hospital's existing enterprise, risk management, governance and business continuity framework.

Aligning cybersecurity and patient safety initiatives not only will help organisations protect patient safety and privacy , but will also ensure continuity of effective delivery of high quality care by mitigating disruptions that can have a negative impact on clinical outcomes.

Some data related to cybersecurity :

• 89% of healthcare organizations experienced a data breach in the past two years.
• A Mid-Horizon study concluded that approximately 100 percent of web applications connected to critical health information is vulnerable to cyber attacks.
• It is estimated that the loss of data and related failures will cost healthcare companies nearly $6 trillion in damages in the next three years compared to $3 trillion, in 2017.
• 82% of surveyed healthcare organizations agree that digital security is one of their foremost concerns.

The overall impact and implications that are felt can be identified in five themes:

• Physical / digital
• Economic
• psychological
• Reputational
• Social / societal

Under the physical / digital category there is the loss of life or damage to infrastructure, while economic category lists the impacts such as a falling stock price , regulatory fines or reduced profits as a possibility.

In the psychological theme impacts , such as individuals being left depressed , embarrassed , shamed , confused are listed while , reputational impacts can inlclude a loss key staff , damage to relationships with customers and intense media scrutiny.

On a social / societal level, there is a risk of disruption to daily life such as an impact on key services , a negative perception of technology or a drop in internal morale in organisations affected by high level incident .