Healthcare privacy and security experts from around the United States will gather in San Diego March 5-6 to share information and strategize over how to combat cybercrime, insider threats, and other pressing challenges to patient data.

The two-day Privacy & Security Forum, presented by HIMSS Media and Healthcare IT News, includes 26 sessions and 40 speakers from such respected healthcare organizations as Kaiser Permanente, Intermountain Healthcare, Texas Health Resources, Penn Medicine, and UCLA Health. Speakers will address cybercrime, medical device security, risk mitigation, insider threats, vendor and other third-party compliance, among other topics.

The forum is scheduled just over a month after Anthem, that nation’s second largest insurer, notified as many as 80 million of its members that hackers swiped personal data.

A new session added to the forum’s agenda pulls together top security officers to discuss strategies and best practices to protect healthcare organizations against cyber attacks like the one that hit Anthem last month. The panel includes: Karl West, CISO, Intermountain Healthcare, Ron Mehring, CISO, Texas Health Resources, Barbara Filkins, systems engineer/infrastructure design, SANS, and Deborah Kobza, executive director NH-ISAC.

In this session “Wake-up Call: Anthem Attack Serves Notice to Healthcare,” speakers will discuss their immediate reaction to the breach, as well as discuss the administrative and technical controls required to mitigate the chance of it happening again.

About 200 attendees are expected to attend the San Diego forum.

In his opening keynote, “Privacy & Security in an Era of Accelerating Change”, Intermountain’s West, from his seat at one of the nation’s most innovative healthcare organizations, will address what he considers the best and most effective way to mitigate security risks.

"Only by developing the appropriate security architecture, can a healthcare organization successfully assimilate technology into the delivery of healthcare and execute effective privacy and security strategies," he said.

Other sessions and speakers includes:

• Kevin McDonald, director of clinical information security, Mayo Clinic – "Security Roundtable: Top Initiatives, Insights, and Concerns for 2015."
• Daniel Nigrin, CIO, Boston Children’s Hospital – "Lessons Learned from Boston Children’s: When Hacktivist Attack Your Hospital."
• Robert Pierce, assistant vice president and CISO – "Security Perspectives: Risk Management and Incident Response."
• Cathleen Connolly, supervisory special agent, FBI: "Combatting Insider Threats: Healthcare’s Greatest Vulnerability."
• Chad Wilson, director, IT security, Children’s National Medical Center – "Phishing – Advanced Defenses Against Successful Social Engineering."

Click here for more information on the agenda and speakers.