Mary-Louise Hoffman
The Department of Health and Human Services is looking for an information sharing and analysis organization to help raise awareness about cybersecurity threats across the government and commercial healthcare sectors.
HHS said Monday its Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response seek to enter into cooperative agreements with a healthcare-focused ISAO.
The agreements are worth $250,000 combined over the first year and could be renewed for an additional five years, the department noted.
“This coordinated resource will focus on sharing the most up-to-date threat information across the health and public health sectors and will better equip health systems to identify potential threats and further protect electronic health information,” said Karen DeSalvo, national coordinator for health IT.
ONC and ASPR want to partner with an existing ISAO to facilitate exchange of cyber threat data as well as expand cybersecurity outreach and educational programs for healthcare providers.
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act directs HHS, the Department of Homeland Security and private organizations to collaborate on the development of threat sharing tools.
