Healthcare leaders representing high-scoring 2018 Most Wired recipient organizations and supporting CHIME Foundation firms joined CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell in an executive roundtable discussion about key findings in a report based on the Most Wired survey results. Only 29 percent of survey respondents reported having a comprehensive security program in place, something Branzell described in his role as moderator as “a serious surprise.”
Several roundtable participants shared their thoughts on why this could be. They also offered strategies to grow a cybersecurity-savvy talent pool. The responses have been edited for brevity.
Ken Bradbury, senior vice president and chief technology officer at The HCI Group, said he was not surprised by the result and noted that there is a varying degree maturity for security programs across the industry: “Cybersecurity within healthcare is a high priority but I don’t think there is a clear understanding of all of the prerequisites of achieving security compliance and having a strong security program. That means you need a stable infrastructure; you need governance and leadership that are aligned with the executive team but also with IT. Your CISO (chief information security officer) needs to be really integrated into the organization – not just a pillar but integrated into IT so it becomes a cultural compliance.”