Cybersecurity

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Last week, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced a settlement with Lafourche Medical Group (“LMG”), a Louisiana medical group, for a 2021 phishing attack and breach that affected the protected health information (“PHI”) of 34,862 individuals. In addition to paying $480,000 to OCR, LMG agreed to a corrective action plan that will include implementing security measures to protect electronic PHI, developing written policies and procedures to comply with HIPAA rules, and training staff members.Continue Reading OCR Takes Enforcement Action for Phishing Attack

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is increasing the risk of ransomware attacks and other cyber threats for U.S. companies, and those in the health care industry may be targeted. In a recent analyst note from the Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”), HHS describes the cyber capabilities of Russia, one of the world’s major cyberpowers, and analyzes two malware variants most likely to impact the U.S. health care and public health sector.
Continue Reading Increased Cyber Risk for Health Care Organizations Due to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

In order to move health care organizations towards consistency in mitigating important cybersecurity threats to the health care sector, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) published multiple guidance documents on best practices for health care organizations to reduce cybersecurity risks (“HHS Cyber Guidance”). The HHS Cyber Guidance is the result of HHS’ public-private partnership with more than 150 cybersecurity and health care experts. While compliance is voluntary, this guidance serves as direction to health care entities on important practices that should be considered and implemented to reduce risk.

Why HHS has published this guidanceContinue Reading HHS Releases Voluntary Cybersecurity Practices Guidance

Yesterday, the FDA released draft guidance on the management of cybersecurity in medical devices submitted to the agency for premarket review. Noting that cybersecurity threats to the healthcare sector have increased in number and severity, the FDA offered new recommendations for device design, labeling, and documentation that medical device manufacturers will need to consider during premarket submission processes.

The guidance comes shortly after the FDA’s launch of its Medical Device Cybersecurity Playbook, which provides a framework for healthcare delivery organizations to use in preparing for and responding to cybersecurity threats against patient medical devices.

Given rapid changes in technology and increasing innovation in the digital health market, the guidance intends to decrease the risk of cyberattacks that could render medical devices inoperable and potentially harm patients. Comments on the draft guidance are due on March 18, 2019.
Continue Reading FDA Issues New Guidance for the Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices

On April 17, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its Medical Device Safety Action Plan which outlines FDA’s intended steps to address medical device safety while preserving enough space for innovation in the market.

The FDA’s plan is the latest effort by the FDA on medical device safety, including a recent budget request seeking $70 million to create a Center of Excellence on Digital Health that would, among other things, craft new regulations for third-party certification for developing medical devices. This comes as FDA is pushing guidance and innovative approaches for oversight of digital health (see our blog).

According to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s announcement, the FDA’s plan organized into five points that seek to balance patients’ timely access to devices and safety and effectiveness.
Continue Reading FDA’s Medical Device Safety Action Plan

The FDA is focusing on safety and effectiveness of interconnected medical devices with the issuance of final guidance on medical device interoperability, released last week. As the FDA notes, medical devices are becoming increasingly connected to one another and to other technologies, and it is critical to address their ability to exchange and use information safely and effectively.

For device manufacturers, this guidance provides clarity on how the FDA is thinking about interoperability and patient safety in the premarket submission process and provides considerations for manufacturers in the development and design of interoperability medical devices. It demonstrates the FDA’s focus on the safety and effectiveness of devices as implemented in an interconnected environment and the expectations of FDA on manufactures to anticipate and design for anticipated uses and reasonably foreseeable misuses. Manufactures should consider this guidance in the design, development, and on-going monitoring of connected medical devices.

This guidance may be helpful for other audiences as well:

  • Care providers that frequently interact with medical devices in the course of patient care
  • Hospital IT teams who make device purchasing decisions
  • Vendors of health technologies that frequently exchange data with medical devices

Continue Reading Interoperability by Design: FDA Issues New Final Guidance for Connected Medical Devices

On October 2, 2014, the FDA released a set of comprehensive guidelines governing the Content of Premarket Submissions for Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices. The guidelines are intended to provide direction for manufacturers of medical devices on how to appropriately safeguard devices from a potential security breach; particularly in light of the sensitive…