HHS’s healthcare cybersecurity goals put system hardening, endpoint protection and known-vulnerability management near the center of the defense. Home care makes that harder because the endpoint leaves the building.

Start with the devices in cars and patient homes: require multifactor authentication, automatic updates, short screen locks and remote wipe. Remove stale accounts quickly. Encrypt backups and prove they can be restored. Then rehearse what happens when a phone is lost after a visit.

A policy stored on the office drive is not a control. A control is something that still works at 7:30 p.m. from a caregiver’s phone.

Source reviewed: HHS: Healthcare and Public Health Cybersecurity Performance Goals. The source supports the reported update; the operational recommendations are DomAfina’s analysis.