A U.S. senator who is also a physician says the growing healthcare cybersecurity threat puts American lives at risk.
Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. had their health data breached in 2021, triple the number that did three years earlier, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., testified at a May 18 hearing on healthcare and education cybersecurity, according to a news release from the senator.
“As a doctor, I cannot express enough the importance of timeliness in care,” the senator said. “Cyberattacks that delay that care cost American lives, especially during a pandemic.”
He also pointed to the increasing costs to the healthcare system generated by hacking incidents. An example is the October 2020 cyberattack on Universal Health Services that cost the system $67 million.
He said partnerships with the private sector and better cooperation among federal agencies are keys to counteracting the threat.