WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner D-Va. and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore. called for the Trump administration to share its plan to prevent cyberattacks on rural hospitals following the largest health care cuts in American history in the Republican budget bill. 

“Trumpcare will harm the cybersecurity resiliency of rural and small hospitals just as this Administration has chosen to gut cybersecurity operations at HHS,” Wyden and Warner wrote. “As rural and small hospitals confront even lower operating margins due to Republican health care cuts, they will be less likely to prioritize spending on cybersecurity infrastructure. The lack of federal oversight and resources, coupled with historic cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, only serve to increase rural and small hospitals’ cybersecurity vulnerabilities.” 

The letter, sent to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, calls on the Administration to share its plans to help small and rural hospitals meet federal cybersecurity standards, as well as its plan to use the so-called “rural health transformation program” to fund cybersecurity improvements - a fund that is dwarfed by more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA)  under Trumpcare. 

Hospitals, particularly smaller facilities and those in rural areas, are a prime target for cyber criminals. Hospitals are also very likely to pay a ransom in order to maintain the continuity of health care given the lack of nearby providers, especially emergency services and procedures, and their top priority is protecting the health and well-being of patients they serve.

Last year, Wyden and Warner introduced legislation to strengthen federal cybersecurity standards across the health care system. Independent analysis has confirmed that over 330 rural hospitals are at risk of deep financial hardship or even closure due to Trumpcare’s cuts to Medicaid, forcing facilities into impossible choices to stay open and continue serving their community.

The full letter is here.

A web version of this release is here.