The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) today announced two cooperative agreement funding opportunities for an Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (ISAO) for the Healthcare and Public Health sector.
The combined funding from both opportunities for an ISAO in the first year will be worth $250,000 and could be renewed for up to five years. HHS hopes these opportunities will facilitate the sharing of cybersecurity threats identified in the Healthcare and Public Health sector with relevant stakeholders in the industry as well as federal partners, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
The Funding Opportunity Announcements released today by ONC and ASPR call for an existing ISAO or Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) to:
- Provide cybersecurity information and education on cyber threats affecting the Healthcare and Public Health sector,
- Expand outreach and education activities to assure that information about cybersecurity awareness is available to the entire Healthcare and Public Health sector,
- Equip stakeholders to take action in response to cyber threat information, and
- Facilitate information sharing widely within the Healthcare and Public Health Sector, regardless of the size of the organization.
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 directs the Department of Homeland Security, Sector-Specific Agencies (including HHS), and private industry to develop tools that can help with the sharing of cybersecurity threat risks.
“Establishing robust threat information sharing infrastructure and capability within the Healthcare and Public Health Sector is crucial to the privacy and security of health information, which is foundational to the digital health system,” said Karen DeSalvo, national coordinator for health IT.
“This coordinated resource will focus on sharing the most up-to-date threat information across the health and public health sectors and will better equip health systems to identify potential threats and further protect electronic health information,” she added.
Further Information about the ONC and ASPR Funding can be found here.
