Cyber Support for Rural Healthcare: It’s A Start
The White House recently released a proposal from Microsoft and Google that would provide limited cybersecurity support to some of our smallest hospitals in America. We can all agree these entities need all the help they can get. The AHA and the ARHA both backed this initiative but were probably surprised to see that it landed with a bit of a thud, with some expressing sentiments from skepticism to paranoia. But anyone who has worked with rural or critical access hospitals over the last three decades, as I have, were likely not surprised.
Those who have worked with rural and critical access hospitals and understand the challenges they face recognize that, while this was indeed a gracious offer and good intentions should be commended, it likely will not solve the cyber challenges for this group of healthcare entities. Unfortunately, it is not a lasting solution to the problems these small but critical healthcare entities face.
When we say rural and/or critical access hospital, we’re sometimes talking about an institution that may be as small as 25 beds or less, with limited support staff and often only one or two IT personnel – and sometimes not even that. These are financially challenged entities, located in remote areas of the country that are usually lacking advanced IT support options or resources nearby. In fact, of the 1,800 rural and critical healthcare entities in the U.S., nearly 50% fall into the category of less than 25 beds.
But make no mistake, small doesn’t mean unimportant. In fact, these tiny entities are the backbone of our health system for rural America and the people who live there. For those who live in these remote areas, the closest major health facility may be more than an hour away – a very long distance in a critical emergency, such as a challenging birth or a heart attack. So if there ever was a worthy candidate for support, rural healthcare is one.
The ARHA has expressed their gratitude for the support offered, and I completely understand this sentiment since this organization works to bring support to these critical hospitals. They understand that threat actors don’t just pick on the big guys. That their constituents are being targeted as well.
These solutions can be meaningful but will likely run into several challenges. Some of these organizations may not be able to take advantage of these solutions without also first investing in their current systems and infrastructure or hiring people to handle remediation. If they had the funds to do those things, however, they might already have done that. For many of these entities, there isn’t funding for these investments. Unless someone is offering remediation support in addition to their offering, it will likely never get off the ground at some of these facilities.
Part of the reason critical access hospitals don’t always have state of the art equipment, boundless support staff, and the latest cyber solutions is why they’re critical access hospitals in the first place: they cannot afford it and they have other priorities deemed more critical for the few discretionary dollars they have or might be able to raise. So, providing these solutions for one year without addressing all the reasons they’re behind in the first place, even at a tremendous discount, is probably unlikely to be as successful as we all would hope.
If we’re truly serious about making a difference and strengthening the resilience of our rural healthcare community, then we need to think and do bigger. We need broader collaborative efforts between private sector and government organizations willing to set aside competitive interests and financial desires to develop a national rural healthcare infrastructure capable of serving those who live in rural parts of America. We need a turnkey solution. That means any assessment offering must come with remediation support, and all software or product solutions must come with support for implementation, administration, and management. It means creating a national solution that each one of these entities can plug into. Then this initiative might get a lot closer to attaining its intended goals.
I know this offering took a lot of effort by many well-meaning people trying to help. But today, when we talk about cybersecurity, we’re talking about saving lives because cybersecurity has become a patient safety concern. Intentions and well-meaning gestures aren’t good enough. We need to get it right because the people who live in these rural areas and rely on these institutions are just as important as the people who live in urban America. Everyone deserves the best healthcare we have available, and it should not be predicated alone on how close you live to a big healthcare system.
We need to recognize that we have a real problem and commit to figuring out the right solution, then work on how we can afford it. Maybe the way to think of this initiative is as a start to a long-term solution. Through their generosity, Microsoft and Google have given the community a boost.
The solution to this problem is not rocket science, and I don’t believe it’s unsolvable. But I do believe it will require a different way of thinking and putting aside parochial motives, as Microsoft and Google have already demonstrated can be done. However, the solution will need to extend for more than a year. Take a look for example at what Michael Bloomberg just did through his philanthropic organization. He donated a $1 Billion to his alma mater John Hopkins to cover the medical school tuition for those whose parents make less than $300 thousand a year. Paving the way for many who might not have been able to afford medical school this opportunity. But what he really did was create something that will have a long-term impact on healthcare in America by creating a source for more doctors. The technology and the knowhow exist to solve the rural healthcare challenge, we just need the commitment, the resources and leadership to do it.
If we truly want to serve rural America better, it will take this type of ingenuity, some innovative thinking and use of technology and yes, some serious money. It will take embracing a different model of support, sharing, an ample amount of generosity, long term commitments, and real leadership. But most of all it will take caring, which, incidentally, is what healthcare is all about. It will take focusing on solving the right problem – serving and saving lives.
Thank you to those who made this happen. But I hope that everyone recognizes this for what it really is and are now prepared to roll up their sleeves and show rural America that we really do understand their challenges, that we value this part of America, and truly do care. Let’s build a solution that will serve rural and critical access hospitals and protect the people they serve.
