Pandemic Stress, Cyberattacks are Compounding Degradation of Care Delivery

It finds the nationwide infrastructure enabling provision of medical care – one of CISA's 55 National Critical Functions – to be severely strained by the COVID-19 pandemic and all the clinical, financial, workforce and supply chain challenges it has brought, Like many of the 55 other national critical functions during this time of upheaval – they include Operate Government, Generate Electricity, Provide Wireless Access Network Services and Maintain Access to Medical Records – the NCF known as Provide Medical Care "has been severely strained, stressed at various points throughout the pandemic." Aimed at various stakeholders – hospital leaders, healthcare providers, cybersecurity and IT professionals – the report explores several things that most who have experienced the past two years "suspected or possibly or probably thought were intuitive," Corman said. The strains on the care delivery system – and the excess deaths they cause – can have severe upstream effects on broader infrastructure, workforce and, potentially, national security. "An analysis of these excess deaths on top of COVID-19 death reveals some interesting demographic slices – one of which is that one of the fastest growing groups affected by these non-COVID-19 excess deaths from degraded and delayed care are aged 25 to 44 year olds," Corman explained. With head to head comparisons, said Corman, "you now are able to contrast the effects of cyber disruption to introduce delayed integrated care sufficiently high enough to be in our danger zone for excess deaths two, four and six weeks later." "But there's been a reluctance in the field to really reconcile and rectify what we many of us intuitively have known to be true – that, yes, delayed and degraded patient care from any cause – power outages, marathons and, yes, cyber attacks – can contribute to worsen outcomes and even excess deaths."