The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has announced the launch of the Digital Health Security (DIGIHEALS) project which seeks to improve the electronic infrastructure of the U.S. healthcare industry. ARPA-H is a funding agency that was created in 2022 to support biomedical and health research, specifically research that has the potential to advance aspects of medicine and health that cannot be achieved through more traditional research and commercial activity.

Over the past few years, cybercriminals have been targeting the healthcare sector and have been using ransomware to prevent access to critical systems and data. In many attacks, hospitals have been forced to divert ambulances, cancel appointments, and delay care. Many attacks have caused disruption for months and some attacks have resulted in the permanent closure of healthcare facilities.

“The DIGIHEALS project comes when the U.S. healthcare system urgently requires rigorous cybersecurity capabilities to protect patient privacy, safety, and lives,” said ARPA-H Director Dr. Renee Wegrzyn. “Currently, off-the-shelf software tools fall short in detecting emerging cyber threats and protecting our medical facilities, resulting in a technical gap we seek to bridge with this initiative.”

The project aims to reduce the ability of malicious actors to attack digital systems and prevent large-scale cyberattacks and will focus on cutting-edge security protocols, vulnerability detection, and automatic patching to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities and software-related weaknesses.

“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,” said ARPA-H Program Manager Andrew Carney. “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.”

Through a Broad Agency Announcement, the DIGIHEALS project is soliciting proposals for proven technologies developed for national security and will apply them to civilian health systems, clinical care facilities, and personal health devices to ensure that in the event of a widespread cyberattack, patients will be able to continue to receive the care they need. Proposals should be submitted through the Scaling Health Applications Research for Everyone (SHARE) BAA. ARPA-H anticipates issuing multiple awards.

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