HHS Launches Digital Health Security Project to Protect Healthcare Infrastructure

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a division of HHS, announced the formation of the Digital Health Security (DIGIHEALS) project, aimed at protecting the United States healthcare system’s electronic infrastructure.

ARPA-H is a funding agency that supports biomedical and health research. Created in 2022, ARPA-H funds research spanning a wide range of areas, specifically focusing on solutions “with the potential to advance areas of medicine and health that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity,” its website states.

The DIGIHEALS project is specifically geared toward developing technologies that help ensure that patients continue to receive care amid a widespread cyberattack on a medical facility.

“The DIGIHEALS project comes when the U.S. healthcare system urgently requires rigorous cybersecurity capabilities to protect patient privacy, safety, and lives,” Renee Wegrzyn, ARPA-H director, said in the announcement.

“Currently, off-the-shelf software tools fall short in detecting emerging cyberthreats and protecting our medical facilities, resulting in a technical gap we seek to bridge with this initiative.”

The project will bring resources to addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities and fixing software-related weaknesses that impact patient safety. As previously reported, the risks of unchecked cybersecurity vulnerabilities include credential theft, ransomware, and data breaches.

“By adapting and extending security, usability, and software assurance technologies, this digital health security effort will play a crucial role in addressing vulnerabilities in health systems,” noted Andrew Carney, ARPA-H program manager.

“This project will also help us identify technical limitations of future technology deployments and contribute to the development of new innovations in digital security to better keep our health systems and patients’ information secure.”

Via a Broad Agency Announcement, ARPA-H is soliciting proposals for proven technologies that can help achieve these goals. The technologies will be applied to civilian health systems, personal health devices, and clinical care facilities.

ARPA-H plans to grant multiple awards under the DIGIHEALS project, depending on the quality of the proposals. Proposals may be submitted through the Scaling Health Applications Research for Everyone (SHARE) Broad Agency Announcement.