The Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force

The Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force

March 16, 2016

By: Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., RN, HHS Acting Deputy Secretary

At HHS, we’re working today with an eye on the horizon. We’re committed to building a health care system that provides better care, spends our health care dollars in smarter ways, and puts patients at the center of their care. Our aim is to strengthen health care so that it works for the health of every American.
Our vision for this health care system is one where a patient can easily check their own medical record, where a patient’s different clinicians, from  pharmacists to nurses to physicians, can more seamlessly work together to keep that patient healthy, and where treatment can easily be tailored to a specific patient’s needs.
The key to unlocking that vision of a modern health care system is joining the data revolution that has already transformed so much of our society. Just recently, Secretary Burwell spoke at the 2016 conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. She spoke about our need to unlock data to bring health care into the 21^st century and how the security of patient data is essential to our progress.
As she told the audience, “People should be able to easily and securely access their electronic health information and send it to any desired location. They need to be able to understand how their information can be shared and used. And they must be assured that this information will be effectively and safely used to benefit their health and that of their community.”
Today, we’re taking a significant step to improve the safety of the data and security of life-saving medical devices across our health care system by announcing the membership of the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force.
READ MORE: The Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force