CHIME Board Members Named to Federal Cybersecurity Task Force
ANN ARBOR, MI, March 16, 2015 – College of Healthcare Information Management Executives board members David Finn and Theresa Meadows, R.N., today were appointed to serve on the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force. The 21-person task force is mandated by the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015.
Finn is health information technology officer at Symantec Corp. Meadows is senior vice president and chief information officer at Cook Children’s Health Care System, Fort Worth, Texas.
“We are honored that HHS selected two highly qualified members of the CHIME board to serve on this important task force,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell. “David brings a wealth of knowledge to the table and will be able to share insights from a broad industry perspective. Theresa is one of the most forward-thinking CIOs in the industry. She has more than 20 years of experience facilitating change across large healthcare enterprises. Both David and Theresa understand the immense challenges healthcare organizations face in protecting patient data and minimizing the risk of a cyberattack. They are great additions to the task force.”
CHIME has been at the forefront of advancing best practices in cybersecurity across the industry. In 2014, CHIME launched the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security in order to give CIOs and chief information security officers an avenue for raising the bar on cybersecurity. CHIME has also been a strong advocate for developing healthcare-specific policies and guidelines at the federal level.
Among other things, the HHS tasked force is charged with analyzing the unique challenges and barriers to cybersecurity in healthcare. It will also study how other industries are protecting data. The task force must develop a plan for sharing information among healthcare stakeholders, including the federal government, and is scheduled to issue a report to Congress in the next year.
“The government cannot solve this problem alone, nor can the private sector,” Finn said. “It is absolutely critical to have collaboration in addressing cybersecurity across all sectors. Data breaches, ransomware, hacks and other threats negatively impact everyone and everyone must come together to solve those problems.”
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,800 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.
Contact
Matthew Weinstock
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
734.249.8917
[email protected]