Cybersecurity in Healthcare: The Urgent Need for a Rapid Recovery Model

In recent years, a series of large-scale cyberattacks have exposed a harsh reality in healthcare — not only highlighting significant security gaps but also revealing how unprepared the industry is to recover. In healthcare, the average recovery time for a ransomware attack is 28 days¹—nearly a month of delayed patient care, financial chaos, and overwhelmed systems struggling to function. At Availity®, we’ve seen firsthand how this lack of resilience has left providers unable to submit claims, process reimbursements, or even access critical patient records. 

In this blog, we’ll dive into why healthcare remains a top target for cybercriminals and, more importantly, what the industry must do to strengthen its defenses and recover faster.

Cybercriminals aren’t just random hackers—they’re strategic, business-minded individuals who see healthcare as a goldmine of high-value patient data. With insufficient protections, outdated security systems, and fragmented IT infrastructures, the industry has become an easy target. And at the end of the path? A lucrative payday that keeps attackers coming back. 

Shifting from Defense to Rapid Recovery

Most organizations approach cybersecurity with a protect-first mindset, focusing on prevention rather than rapid response and recovery. The problem? When an attack does occur, they’re left scrambling to restore systems, verify data integrity, and reprocess claims. Here’s a high-level snapshot of a typical post-breach recovery process:

This process can take four weeks or longer—a timeline healthcare simply can’t afford. Every day of downtime means delayed care, financial losses, and increased patient risk. As the nation’s trusted health information intermediary, Availity takes its role as critical healthcare infrastructure seriously. That’s why we have launched Availity’s Rapid Recovery — our commitment to maintaining business continuity, enabling you to deliver quality care, even in the face of a crisis. 

Cyber Resilience Is the New Standard

In an era where cyber breaches are inevitable, the speed of your recovery is what truly sets resilient organizations apart from those that struggle to stay afloat.

Picture this: A cyberattack hits your network today. Instead of scrambling to assess the damage, waiting on forensic teams, and enduring weeks of lost revenue and patient disruptions, what if you had chosen a technology partner with an advanced framework built to rapidly respond to large-scale cyber events? That’s the power of Rapid Recovery. It isn’t just a backup plan; it’s a proactive, ready-to-roll system that helps Availity and our connected ecosystem of partners and customers restore vital business operations in days, not weeks. Because in today’s landscape, resilience isn’t a choice — it’s a necessity. 

Check out our On-Demand webinar, “The Cost of Complacency: What 2024 Cyberattacks Reveal about Healthcare’s Security Gaps”, hosted by Becker’s for an exclusive look at Availity’s Rapid Recovery model.

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