As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology released its second Web-based security training module, “CyberSecure: Your Medical Practice” for healthcare providers and staff on October 24, 2013. The game provides training on disaster planning, data backup and recovery, and other elements of contingency planning to help prepare for power outages, floods, fires, or weather related events such as hurricanes or tornadoes. Because these events can damage patient health information or make it unavailable, planning can help ensure that information is protected and accessible when disasters are over. Contingency planning is also required by the HIPAA Security Rule.

“We know from recent experiences such as Hurricane Sandy, that these events can very adversely impact the delivery of health care,” said ONC Chief Privacy Officer Joy Pritts. “We hope that this video game will raise awareness of contingency planning and help practices begin to develop their own disaster plans, backup and recovery processes and other vital activities.” Learn more and try out the game