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Senate HELP hearing spotlights health‑care cybersecurity risks; witnesses urge HIPAA update and federal privacy law
Summary
At a Senate HELP Committee hearing, witnesses from industry, trade groups, rural hospitals and academia warned that cyberattacks on health systems can halt patient care, and urged a modernized HIPAA security rule, federal privacy protections for consumer health data, and targeted federal support for rural hospitals.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing focused on cybersecurity risks to the U.S. health system, where witnesses warned that ransomware and breaches can disrupt patient care, delay payments and threaten hospital solvency — particularly at rural providers.
Greg Garcia, executive director of the Health Care and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council, summarized sector concerns and framed cybersecurity as a patient‑safety issue: "cybersecurity is patient safety." He said sustained ransomware and other cyberattacks force hospitals to divert or turn away patients, freeze claims processing, and can stop manufacturing of medical products. Garcia told the committee that the CPAC advisory framework — which allowed sensitive private‑public exchanges — was canceled earlier in the year and urged its reinstatement or a similar mechanism to restore coordinated information sharing.
Renee Quashie, vice president for digital health at the Consumer…
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