Maverick's Update

Should we let go of health data or not? We are cognizant of the fact that little Amelia was singing “Let It Go” in a bomb shelter because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which is what is giving rise to warnings about Russian-engineered cyberattacks from the FBI and CISA, the White House, and a new law requiring healthcare entities and others to report cyberattacks. But Russia is not our only health data security problem. Just this week, Politico reported on its analysis of HHS data from 2021, where it found that in nearly half of the states, more than 10% of people’s health information was exposed or leaked somehow. This is one of the reasons why a Health Data Privacy Commission is being considered by Congress, and the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) and HITRUST have announced a partnership to strengthen the health data security framework of the Trusted Network Accreditation Program. The threat to the privacy and security of our health data is very real, even as another potential COVID surge is causing public officials to worry that public health data is going unreported. Rather than letting it go and hoping for the best, we are trusting that our public and industry leaders will take the time to get this right.