The Senate’s HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) has introduced the Heal Care Cybersecurity and Resiliency Act of 2024. A product of the committee’s cybersecurity work group, the bill calls for better coordination between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Increased cooperation will allow the healthcare sector to improve its response to the increasing number of cyberattacks.  

HHS indicates 89 million Americans experienced a breach in their healthcare information, double the number from just two years ago. Healthcare data can prove valuable on the black market. Unlike credit card information, healthcare records are permanent and cannot be canceled or reissued. 

Senator Bill Cassidy, MD, a Republican from Louisiana is the ranking member of the HELP committee. “Cyberattacks on our healthcare sector not only put patients’ sensitive health data at risk but can delay life-saving care,” Cassidy stated. Additionally, recovery from such attacks is expensive for healthcare entities, and it’s taking longer periods to correct.  

The bi-partisan HELP committee also includes Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Mark Warner (D-VA). The bill seeks to “modernize our healthcare institutions’ cybersecurity practices, increase agency coordination, and provide tools for rural providers to prevent and respond to cyberattacks,” Cornyn said. 

The bill also calls for greater cooperation between two federal agencies, HHS and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, as it seeks to modernize healthcare’s cybersecurity practices and provide tools for providers to prevent and respond to cyberattacks.